Anomalous light-induced drift of lithium atoms in a mixture of noble gases

This paper is a theoretical study of the spectral features of the velocity of light-induced drift (LID) of lithium atoms (⁷Li and ⁶Li) in a binary mixture of noble gases: Ne + Ar, Ne + Kr, and Ne + Xe. The spectral shape of the LID signal is predicted to depend strongly on the fraction ξ of neon in the buffer mixture in the range ξ≈0.8–0.9 (ξ=N _Ne/N _b, where N _Ne is the neon concentration, and N _b is the total concentration of the buffer particles). When the velocity of anomalous LID is treated as a function of the radiation frequency, it is found to have one, three, five, or seven zeros and to differ substantially from the dispersion-curve-like behavior with one zero predicted by the standard LID theory with velocity-independent transport collision rates. The reason for these additional zeros of the drift velocity is the alternating-sign dependence on the lithium-atom velocity of the relative difference of transport rates of collisions between buffer particles and excited and unexcited atoms. What is also established is that the anomalous LID of lithium atoms can be observed at almost all temperatures, depending on the value of ξ. At a fixed temperature, anomalous LID can be observed only in a narrow range of values of the fraction of neon in the buffer mixture, Δξ≈0.02. The results make possible highly precise testing in the LID experiments of the interatomic potentials used in calculations of the velocity spectrum of anomalous LID. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 116, 1587–1600 (November 1999)     

Isotopic thermal diffusion factors of the noble gases

A new set of isotopic thermal diffusion factors for Ar, Kr and Xe is reported. The data have been obtained from thermal diffusion column measurements in a column previously calibrated with Ne gas, and complete the α_T data for the binary mixtures of noble gases given previously. The results lead to the conclusion that the thermal diffusion properties of the noble gases and their mixtures are well described by the law of corresponding states first proposed by Kestin, Ro and Wakeham. It is also concluded that the calibration technique used makes the thermal diffusion column a valuable instrument for the determination of the thermal diffusion factors of isotopic and non-isotopic dilute gas mixtures.     

An experimental investigation of the pressure and concentration dependence of muonic Coulomb capture and cascade in gases

Muonic Coulomb capture ratios and x-ray intensity patterns in four binary mixtures of the gases N₂, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe have been measured at three atomic ratios. An influence of the concentration has been established. The Lyman series intensity patterns of pure N₂, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe were measured at pressures between 0.4 and 51 bar and found to depend on the pressure. Possible explanations are discussed.     

Population processes in high-pressure inert-gas-mixture lasers

Working-level-population processes are analyzed on the basis of detailed investigations of the amplitude-time structure of the laser and spontaneous emission following a pulsed electric discharge in the mixtures He + R (R = Ar, Kr, Xe), Ar + Xe. Account is taken in the analysis of excitation by electrons (direct and stepwise) and of population as a result of relaxation processes (collisions of second kind with electrons; radiative cascades, recombination processes; collisions with the atoms of the working and buffer gases; excitation transfer from helium molecules). It is concluded that under optimum efficiency conditions inversion is produced in the lasers considered as a result of direct electron collision with the working atoms (Ar, Kr, Xe), which are in the ground state.Translated from Lazernye Sistemy, pp. 15–34, 1982.     

Vacuum ultraviolet spectra of heteronuclear dimers of inert gases in a direct-current discharge

The emission bands appearing near the resonance lines of Kr and Xe in the spectra of the gas-discharge plasma of binary Xe-X and Kr-Y mixtures (X is He, Ne, Ar, or Kr; Y is He, Ne, or Ar) are experimentally studied. It is concluded that the emission bands investigated are related to electronic transitions in hetero-nuclear dimers. The mechanisms of formation of the spectra under study are analyzed.     

Stöße zwischen orientierten Thalliumatomen im 62 D 3/2-Zustand und Edelgasatomen

By exciting thallium atoms with circular polarized light of the thallium resonance line 2768 Å an orientation of thallium atoms in the 6² D _3/2 level can be generated. Our experimental results show that part of this orientation has been transferred to the 6² D _5/2 thallium level by collisions with inert gas atoms. A series of experiments was carried out using He, Ne, Ar, Kr and Xe as buffer gases. In all cases the direction of the transferred orientation was found to be inverted.     

Spectroscopic diagnostics of barrier discharge plasmas in mixtures of zinc diiodide with inert gases

The spectral characteristics of the emission of gas discharge atmospheric pressure plasmas in mixtures of zinc diiodide vapor with inert gases (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe) are investigated. The formation of a gas discharge plasma and the excitation of the components of a working mixture were performed in a high-frequency (with a repetition frequency of sinusoidal voltage pulses of 100 kHz) barrier discharge. The gas discharge emission was analyzed in the spectral range 200–900 nm with a resolution of 0.05 nm. Emission bands of ZnI(B-X) exciplex molecules and I₂* excimer molecules, lines of inert gases, and emission bands of XeI* exciplex molecules (in Xe-containing mixtures) were revealed. It is ascertained that the strongest emission of ZnI* molecules is observed in ZnI₂/He(Ne) mixtures. The regularities in the spectral characteristics of the gas discharge plasma emission are considered.     

A new laser concept for isotopically selective analysis of noble gases

A new laser approach for the isotopically selective analysis of noble gases is presented. This approach uses noble gas atoms prepared in the 1s ⁵ metastable state. Hyperfine levels in the 1s ⁵ and 2p ⁹ states form two-level systems in Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe which can be excited by a commercially available single-frequency laser system. Absorption of photons from such a laser, and the resulting momentum transfer, can be used to selectively deflect the desired isotope from a supersonic atomic beam into a detection area. Light from the same laser can then be used to selectively count atoms of the desired isotope using the photon-burst technique. Thus, enrichment and selective detection are accomplished with a single laser in a single pass through the apparatus.The problem of analyzing for⁸⁵Kr in a sample of noble gases extracted from the air is examined in detail. This is a stringent test of the selectivity of this approach because⁸⁵Kr has the same nuclear spin, and thus similar hyperfine splittings, as naturally occurring⁸³Kr. Calculations indicate that isotopic selectivity of the new approach is easily adequate to resolve⁸⁵Kr in a 10¹⁰ excess of⁸³Kr.     

The excitation temperature functions of some spectrum lines of He,Ne, Ar,Kr and Xe

The excitation temperature functions of 19 spectrum lines of 5 rare gases He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe have been calculated according to the method given by Fowler and Milne. The results make it possible to determine the radial plasma temperature distribution in the range of temperatures of 1.4 × 10⁴°K to 14 × 10⁴°K. Some examples are given for the determination of the plasma temperature distribution in space and time by using the Ar ecxitation temperature functions calculated.     

Dynamical treatment of binding,polarization and recoil in asymmetric ion-atom collisions

The cross sections for quenching the lowestn ² P states of the alkali atoms Li, Na, K., and Rb by the inert gases He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe are presented for 5 eV≦E _c.m.≦ 100 eV. These cross sections are derived from the corresponding cross sections for collisional excitation by applying the principle of microreversibility. Upper estimates for the quenching cross sections at thermal energies are given; in all studied cases the quenching cross sections are <8·10^?3Ų. These new upper limits are in most cases much lower than those obtained from other methods previously.     

Editorial

A high resolution electron spectroscopy technique is used to study the autoionization of noble gases excited by fast neutral noble gas atoms with 80–600 eV kinetic energy. The energy and notation of the excited states is determined by considering the proper quantum defects in the Rydberg series. The doubly excited states prevail over the singly excited ones. Like and unlike colliding pairs are studied and various excitation processes are suggested for the HeKr, ArKr and ArXe systems.     

产生惰性气体高价离子的新方法

此文介绍了一种产生惰性气体高价离子的新方法。在飞行时间质谱仪（ＴＯＦ－ＭＳ）上，把聚焦后的３０８ｎｍ激光掠射到不锈钢栅网上，产生超短脉冲的电子束，利用这种电子束来轰击惰性气体（Ｈｅ，Ｎｅ，Ａｒ，Ｋｒ，Ｘｅ），产生高价离子，并给出了这些离子的飞行时间质谱。这些高价离子可能是电子逐次电离气体原子产生的。这种方法可作为飞行时间质谱的一种理想的“软电离”的“点”离子源     

Optical pumping of ions in buffer gases

Transient signals measured with a pulsed rf-optical pumping method are used to determine longitudinal relaxation rates for Sr⁺ ions (even isotopes) in noble gas buffers. Depolarization cross sections of the electronic spin in the Sr⁺5² S _1/2 ground state for binary collisions with rare gas atoms are deduced. The results for σ(Sr⁺5² S _1/2) in Ų are (at temperatures between 374 and 449 °K): 2·10^?5(He),4·10^?5(Ne), 5.7·10^?3(Ar), 1.8·10^?2(Kr), and 4.0·10^?2(Xe). These cross sections for the Sr⁺ ion are about two to three orders of magnitude larger than the corresponding ones for the isoelectronic neutral Rb atom. The large increase of the Sr⁺ relaxation rates is explained with the relaxation mechanism of spin-orbit coupling, taking into account two “indirect” effects of the ionic charge: the increase in the gas kinetic cross sections and the more intimate collisions of the Sr⁺ ion with the noble gas atoms. The depolarization is shown to be predominantly due to short-range interactions. A contribution to the relaxation of the Sr⁺ ion from Sr⁺-noble gas molecule formation, induced by three-body or resonant two-body collisions, could not be established for applied pressuresp between 1.5 and 15 Torr of Ar, Kr, and Xe.     

Search for long-range forces by means of ultracold neutrons (1)

A method of using a gravitational spectrometer to search for long-range forces between neutrons and atoms is proposed. The constraints on the strength of long range forces within the range of 10⁻¹⁰–10⁻⁴ cm can be obtained from the experiments on measurements of the total cross section of interaction of ultracold neutrons with atoms of noble gases (He, Ne, Ar, ⁸⁶Kr) and the data on the coherent neutron scattering length of the nucleus. The first result of such type analysis is presented.     

Simulation of above-threshold ionization experiments using the strong-field approximation

Recently performed above-threshold ionization (ATI) experiments with noble gases allow the determination of the complete energy and angular distribution of the emitted photoelectrons. In order to simulate such experiments, we have generalized our numerical code for the calculation of ATI spectra in order to achieve a realistic simulation of ATI of the noble gases He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe. Our method is based on an improved version of the strong-field approximation and includes focal averaging. A semiclassical analysis of the dependence of the cutoff law on the photoelectron emission angle is presented. The effects of channel closings on the high-energy spectra are analyzed.     

Chemical-Shifts in Magnetic-Resonance of the 3He Nucleus in Liquid Solvents and Comparison with Other Noble Gases

Gas-to-solution solvent shifts of ³He dissolved in 17 pure liquids were measured. Two types of samples were used, under helium pressures of about 2 and 30 atm. No measurable pressure effect on the shift could be detected. The gas-to-solution shifts are dominated by the bulk susceptibility, for which correction was made. The resulting medium-shift range in our solvents is about 0.8 ppm. Hence ³He provides an excellent probe for the detection of minute local magnetic fields at the site of noble-gas atoms. For the first time shifts in liquid solvents for all four NMR-accessible noble-gas nuclei (³He, ²¹Ne, ⁸³Kr, and ¹²⁹Xe) can be compared. The medium shifts of ³He show a roughly linear correlation to medium shifts of ¹²⁹Xe, ⁸³Kr, and ²¹Ne in the same solvents. The corrected relative solvent shifts, that is, the solvent effects divided by σ_d, the diamagnetic shielding of the free atom, and by the number of nearest-neighbor solvent molecules, are approximately equal for all four noble gases.     

Übertragung von Polarisation bei sensibilisierenden Stößen angeregter Natriumatome

The transfer of magnetic polarization from state 3p ² p _1/2 to state 3p ² p _3/2 sensitizing collisions of sodium atoms with noble gas atoms has been observed. Sodium atoms were excited by absorption ofD ₁σ⁺-quanta. When buffer gas was added to the sodium vapour, unequal amounts ofD ₂σ⁺ andD ₂σ^? quanta could be detected in the fluorescent light. The difference of the amounts turned out to be proportional to the polarization transferred. The measurement of this difference as a function of the buffer gas pressure provided a method of determining the cross-sections of the polarization transfer. Values of the cross-sections are 22, 24, 26, 20, 23 Ų for the buffer gases He, Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe, respectively. A preliminary investigation shows that the sign of the polarization transferred is reversed when the vapour is exposed to a strong magnetic field acting along the incident light beam.     

X@C20F20(X=He,Ne,Ar,Kr)几何结构和 电子结构的理论研究

采用密度泛函理论中的广义梯度近似, 对X@C₂₀F₂₀(X=He, Ne, Ar, Kr)几何结构和电子结构进行了计算研究. 几何结构优化发现: 惰性气体原子X内掺到C₂₀F₂₀笼后, 均稳定于碳笼中心, 随着内掺X原子序数的增大, X原子对C₂₀F₂₀笼的影响越来越大. 能隙、内掺能和振动频率计算表明: 内掺X原子使得C₂₀F₂₀的稳定性得到了显著提升, X@C₂₀F₂₀(X=He, Ne, Ar, Kr)都具有良好的稳定性, 并且随着X原子序数的增大, 其稳定性也基本呈现逐渐增强的趋势. 电子结构研究发现: X原子对X@C₂₀F₂₀费米能级附近的占据轨道基本没有贡献, 而对其未占据轨道贡献较大. 计算还发现: 在X@C₂₀F₂₀中, He 和Kr分别从C₂₀F₂₀的C 笼上获得了0.126和0.271个电子, 而Ne和Ar却分别向C笼转移了0.060和0.012个电子. 由此可见: X原子与C原子之间都发生了电荷转移, C笼上的C原子与惰性气体原子X间形成了一定的离子键.     

Experimental evaluation of the gas-phase collision cross-section of effusive Au beam with noble gases: The effect of size and flux

We find that the effusive atomic beam of Au atoms is deflected away by collision with noble gas atoms crossing in a perpendicular geometry with a beam flux of >1 × 10¹⁶/cm²s. The ratio of defected Au atoms is found to increase proportional to the flux of noble gases. In addition, the effective cross-section for the collision between Au and noble gases (Ne, Ar, Xe) is measured to increase in an order of Ne < Ar < Xe. As a result of the increased collision probability, the deflection ratio of Au beam in the noble gases is measured to be enhanced for the Au flux in the range of 1 × 10¹¹–10¹³ Au/cm²s. Our results show that the gas-phase collision can be reliably determined by measuring the deflection ratio. The experimentally determined collision cross-section also explains the variation in the deflection ratio among various noble gases and the importance of a long-range van der Waals interaction between Au and noble gases in the deflection efficiency.     

Electronic and geometric structure of doped rare-gas clusters: surface, site and size effects studied with luminescence spectroscopy

The electronic and geometric structure of rare gas clusters doped with rare-gas atoms Rg = Xe, Kr or Ar is investigated with fluorescence excitation spectroscopy in the VUV spectral range. Several absorption bands are observed in the region of the first electronic excitations of the impurity atoms, which are related to the lowest spin-orbit split atomic ³P₁ and ¹P₁ states. Due to influence of surrounding atoms of the cluster, the atomic lines are shifted to the blue and broadened (“electronical cage effect”). From the known interaction potentials and the measured spectral shifts the coordination of the impurity atom in Ar_N, Kr_N, Ne_N and He_N could be studied in great detail. In the interior of Kr_N and Ar_N the Xe atoms are located in substitutional sites with 12 nearest neighbours and internuclear distances comparable to that of the host matrix. In Ne_N and He_N the cluster atoms (18 and 22, respectively) arrange themselves around the Xe impurity with a bondlength comparable to that of the heteronuclear dimer. The results confirm that He clusters are liquid while Ne clusters are solid for N≥ 300. Smaller Ne clusters exhibit a liquid like behaviour. When doping is strong, small Rg_m-clusters (Rg = Xe, Kr, Ar, m≤10 ²) are formed in the interior sites of the host cluster made of Ne or He. Specific electronically excited states, assigned to interface excitons are observed. Their absorption bands appear and shift towards lower energy when the cluster size m increases, according to the Frenkel exciton model. The characteristic bulk excitons appear in the spectra, only when the cluster radius exceeds the penetration depth of the interface exciton, which can be considerably larger than that in free Rg_m clusters. This effect is sensitive to electron affinities of the guest and the host cluster.