The excited mercury—ammonia emission at low pressure

The luminescence from H_g, NH₃ mixtures, when excited with 2537 Å resonance radiation, has been investigated at low pressures (? 0.03 torr) with a time resolved technique. It is concluded that the carrier of the band with a maximum at ≈ 3000 Å is an H_gNH^*₃ complex formed in a bimolecular encounter of H_g(6³P₀) with NH₃. The quantum yield of the bimolecular emission is small (0.1), the main channel for bimolecular removal of H_g(6³P₀) being radiationless.