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Physical Review A

Deexcitation of Rydberg states of He by He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe

A. Hitachi, Christopher Davies, Terence A. King, Shinzou Kubota, T. Doke

Published Sep 1, 1980• 24 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The total quenching cross sections for $\mathrm{He}({n}^{1,3}S)(2\ensuremath{\le}n\ensuremath{\le}11)$ states by thermal collisions [600(+ 200, - 100) K] with He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe have been measured. The main quenching mechanism is attributed to Penning ionization for lower $n$, and collisional angular-momentum transfer for highly excited states. Measured cross sections are of the order of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}15}$ to ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}14}$, ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$. The values for higher $n$ states are much smaller than the geometrical cross section; this is explained by a relatively large energy spread between the $S$ state and $l\ensuremath{\ge}1$ states.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.22.856

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The total quenching cross sections for He(n1,3S)(2\ensuremath≤n\ensuremath≤11)\mathrm{He}({n}^{1,3}S)(2\ensuremath{\le}n\ensuremath{\le}11)He(n1,3S)(2\ensuremath≤n\ensuremath≤11) states by thermal collisions [600(+ 200, - 100) K] with He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe have been measured. The main quenching mechanism is attributed to Penning ionization for lower nnn, and collisional angular-momentum transfer for highly excited states. Measured cross sections are of the order of 10\ensuremath−15{10}^{\ensuremath{-}15}10\ensuremath−15 to 10\ensuremath−14{10}^{\ensuremath{-}14}10\ensuremath−14, cm2{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}cm2. The values for higher nnn states are much smaller than the geometrical cross section; this is explained by a relatively large energy spread between the SSS state and l\ensuremath≥1l\ensuremath{\ge}1l\ensuremath≥1 states.
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