Fluorescence ratio of the two D sodium lines in flames for D1 and D2 excitation

The ratio of the fluorescence intensities from the two lines of the yellow sodium doublet has been investigated in several hydrogen-based and acetylene-based flames and with various types of lasers as excitation sources. The systematic deviation from 2 for the ratio D₂/D₁ when either D₁ or D₂ are used as exciting transitions can be simply explained by the relative difference in the values of the collisional mixing constants between the excited P-levels and the collisional quenching constants transferring atoms from both P-levels to the ground S-level. Results obtained in flames characterized by different values of the quantum efficiency follow the behavior predicted by the fluorescence expressions obtained by a simple, steady-state theoretical approach.