Ionization function of magnesium for electron impact

Ionization cross sections for electron impact are measured with crossed beams of Mg atoms and pulsed electrons. Total numbers of particles are determined by the light emission of excited atoms. The ionization cross section obtained for electron energies from 7 eV to 60 eV has its maximum valueq _i (max)=7.8 · 10^?16 cm² at 12 eV electron energy.     

Elastic scattering of metastable He(21,3 S) atoms by Na(32 S) atoms at 68 meV

The spectroscopy of metastable states is used to make the first experimental measurement of the total differential elastic-scattering cross sections of metastable helium atoms in 2³ S and 2¹ S states by sodium atoms in the ground state at interaction energy 68 meV in the center-of-mass system. To analyze the experimental data, the partial scattering phases are calculated using the method of phase functions in the optical potential approximation. The analysis makes it possible to give a more detailed interpretation of the structure of the differential cross section. The computed integral cross sections, specifically, Penning ionization, diffusion, viscosity, and spin exchange are discussed.     

Reactions of excited atoms and molecules with atoms and molecules

From a He-beam excited by electron impact we eliminated the He(2¹ S) component to better than 0.5% by irradiating light from a He discharge. The quenching process ishv(2¹ P→2¹ S)+He(2¹ S)→He(2¹ P)→He(1¹ S +hv) (2¹ P 1)¹ S. By measuring the ions produced in collisions of the He-metastables with various target gases in a mass spectrometer, singlet to triplet Penning-cross section ratios were obtained. These ratios are without exception close to one, which is taken as evidence for the previously proposed electron exchange mechanism of the Penning ionization. In the case that more ions are produced in the collision of He (2¹ S) and He(2³ S) with a target gas, separate relative production cross sections are obtained for the two metastables. For the rare gases the measurements are performed at two temperatures of the He-beam, 320 and 90 °K. It is found that the cross section ratio of associative — to Penning ionization increases considerably as the temperature is decreased for both, He(2¹ S) and He(2³ S), the effect being much more pronounced for He(2¹ S). The results of this work are found to confirm conclusions drawn from measured energy distributions of the electrons ejected in the Penning process.     

激发态Na(3P)原子的碰撞缔合电离

用染料激光照射温度为250℃的Na蒸汽,将基态Na原子激发到3P态,两个Na(3P)原子碰撞,产生缔合电离,测量了缔合电离截面。本实验的关键是激发态原子密度及其空间分布的确定。本文用三种不同的方法测定Na(3P)原子密度,并仔细地研究了它们的空间分布;结合电离电流的测量,得到了缔合电离截面σ_Al=4.2×10^-17cm²(±36％)。与其它实验结果作了比较,并进行了讨论。 关键词：     

Autoionization cross section of potassium atom excited by electron impact

The autoionization cross section of potassium atoms excited by electron impact is measured in the energy range from the first autoionization threshold at 18.72 eV to 202 eV. The data are obtained by deter-mining the total intensity of electron spectra resulting from the decay of the 3p ⁵ n ₁ l ₁ n ₂ l ₂ autoionizing states. The cross section has two maxima, 1.8 × 10^?16 and 2.2 × 10^?16 cm², at 21 and 32 eV, respectively. The excitation dynamics of autoionization states suggests that the first maximum is associated with the resonance character of the near-threshold excitation. The second maximum, as well as the behavior of the cross section at energies above 50 eV, reflects the dynamics of electron excitation of quartet and doublet autoionizing states. The measured autoionization cross section is compared with known data for the total single ionization cross section of potassium atom by electron impact. The relative contribution of the autoionization cross section to the total single ionization cross section is found to reach 30% at 32 eV.     

Influence of electron-atom cross section uncertainties on shock wave structure

The exact value of the electron-atom collisional ionization cross section for argon is not accurately known. The purpose of the present research is to determine numerically the effect of varying the magnitude of the electron-atom cross section on nonequilibrium shock-wave structure. Mach 18 shock waves propagating into an argon-like gas at 1 cm-Hg and 300°K have been analyzed. Thermal, ionizational, and excitational non-equilibrium are considered in the relaxation region behind the shock wave. Electrons in the relaxation region are formed by a two-step collisional process, wherein the atom is first excited and then it is ionized. The precursor is formed by ground and excited state continuum radiation and line radiation which is emitted, but not reabsorbed, in the region behind the shock wave. When the electron-atom ionization cross section is varied from 1·86 × 10^?4to 1·86 × 10^?2cm²/erg, the results show that (1) it influences the coupling between the precursor and relaxation region through the radiative source functions, (2) it does not influence the distance necessary to attain equilibrium behind the shock wave, (3) it inversely influences the magnitude of the precursor ionization, and excitation, and (4) it inversely influences both the free electron and excited state population in the relaxation layer.     

Effect of the optical orientation of spin angular momenta of sodium atoms in the 32 S 1/2 state and metastable helium atoms in the 23 S 1 state on the Na-He gas-discharge plasma conduction

The observation of the effect of mutual orientation of spin angular momenta of sodium atoms in the 3² S _1/2 state and helium atoms in the 2³ S ₁ state on the electrical conduction of a Na-He gas-discharge plasma is reported. In the experiments, a simultaneous optical orientation of atoms by the optical emission of sodium and helium lamps was carried out. The influence of the mutual orientation on the conduction was observed as a change in the high-frequency voltage across electrodes of a gas-discharge camera caused by the destruction of orientation of sodium atoms. The effect is explained by the dependence of Penning ionization in the interaction of sodium and helium atoms on the mutual orientation of spin angular momenta of partners.     

Spektroskopische Untersuchung unelastischer Stöße zwischen Ionen oder metastabilen Atomen der Edelgase und Alkalimetallatomen bei thermischen Stoßenergien

The present work deals with the spectroscopic investigation of Penning ionization and nonresonant charge exchange due to thermal-energy collisions of metastable atoms or ions of the inert gases He, Ne with atoms of alkali metals K, Rb, Cs in a low temperature plasma of the corresponding binary mixtures. The rate constants of these reactions and partial rate constants of exciting several alkali metal ion levels were determined by the kinetics of the decay of ionized and excited particles in the afterglow of a pulsed discharge. Measured Penning and charge exchange constants are in order of 10^10-9 cm³ sec^?1. Partial Penning constants in the He? Cs system exhibit a small dependence of the energy defect of reaction, whereby an important part of collisions results in excited Cs⁺-states. On the contrary, energy transfer by charge exchange in He? Rb, Cs systems distinguishes by a significant energy defect dependence. Charge exchange from He⁺ to Rb₀ leads above all to He(2³S₁)-atoms and normal Rb⁺-ions. It follows from the metal ion spectrums, that Penning ionization and charge exchange of the investigated systems under utilized conditions represent as processes of selective excitation of alkali metal ions in afterglow and stationary discharge.     

On the interaction of an electron with a nonspherical atom

A three-stage scheme for the excitation of the autoionization state of europium atoms is realized, and the corresponding ionization cross section is determined: σ=6.5×10^?10 cm². Analytical signals from europium atoms are recorded in standard and waste water solutions used in mining noble metals and in the diagnostics of rare-earth elements.     

L α emission from collisional excitation of H Atoms by threshold energy Ar+ ions

In a specially designed collision chamber, H atoms produced by a microwave discharge were excited into the 2p state by impact of Ar⁺ ions in a beam. A degree of dissociation up toη=94% was measured at the exit of the microwave source, although in the center of the collision cellη is smaller, with a lower limit of 33 %. The effect of vibrational excitation of H₂ by the discharge and the resulting difficulties of measuringη are discussed. The cross section forL _α emission increases linearly from the threshold, at 10.2 eV_CM, to 17.1 eV_CM. The absolute cross section at this energy is 1.5·10^?17 cm² forη=33% (with a minimum of 0.6·10^?17 cm², for the maximum possibleη). The absence of an activation barrier rules out some features shown by an earlier ab initio calculation.     

Die Anregungsfunktion für Elektronenstoß des Ca-41 P°-Terms

The electron impact excitation of the Ca-4¹ P°-term was measured as a function of the energy of the exciting electrons. Cascading effects from higher excited states are taken into account. For low energies the cross section for direct population of the 4¹ P°-term from the ground state can be described by the function 2.63 · 10^?16 E?E ₀/E ² ln 0.43E cm².     

Observation of high-energy electrons from a metal target irradiated by protons with a mean energy of 25 keV

Electrons with abnormally high energies of up to 16 keV are detected from an iron target irradiated by ions (H⁺, Fe⁺, Fe²⁺, Fe³⁺) with energies ranging from 20 to 100 keV from the plasma of a high-power femtosecond laser pulse with an intensity of 10¹⁶ J/(s cm²). These electrons indicate that the energy of an incident ion is almost completely transferred to an electron knocked out of the target. In a range of 6–16 keV, the spectrum of electrons knocked out of the K shell of iron atoms by protons with an energy of 22 ± 2 keV is quasi-exponential with an exponent of 4 keV. For 8-keV electrons, the double differential cross section for ionization by such protons is estimated as 10^?7 b/(eV sr).     

A Clear Atomic Example for the Surface Sensitivity of Penning Ionization: He*(23S) + Yb

Using a crossed-beam apparatus with a double hemispherical electron spectrometer, we have studied the spectrum of electrons released in thermal energy ionizing collisions of metastable He*(2³S) atoms with ground state Yb(4f¹⁴ 6s^{2 1}S₀) atoms, thereby providing the first Penning electron spectrum of an atomic target with 4f-electrons. In contrast to the Hel (58.4 nm) and NeI (73.6/74.4 nm) photoelectron spectra of Yb, which show mainly 4f- and 6s-electron emission in about a 5:1 ratio, the He*(2³S) Penning electron spectrum is dominated by 6s-ionization, accompanied by some correlation-induced 6p-emission (8% Yb⁺(4f¹⁴ 6p ²P) formation) and very little 4f-ionization (?2.5%). This astounding result is attributed to the electron exchange mechanism for He*(2³S) ionization and reflects the poor overlap of the target 4f-electron wavefunction with the 1s-hole of He*(2³S), as discussed on the basis of Dirac-Fock wave functions for the Yb orbitals and through calculations of the partial ionization cross sections involving semiempirical complex potentials. The presented case may be regarded as the clearest atomic example for the surface sensitivity of He*(2³S) Penning ionization observed so far.     

Electron-stimulated desorption of atomic oxygen from polycrystalline Ag

Emission of neutral oxygen atoms from an oxygen-charged polycrystalline Ag wire has been examined by using electron-stimulated desorption (ESD) in conjunction with threshold ionization detection (appearance potential). A quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) was used to detect the neutral oxygen atoms, but the ionizer was operated in the appearance potential (AP) mode to make it possible to distinguish the oxygen atoms from products formed by collision of the oxygen atoms with the walls. Loss of the reactive oxygen atoms was also minimized by enclosing the ESD chamber in fused silica. With a primary beam energy of 100 eV, the ESD cross section for oxygen atom desorption was found to be 7 × 10^-19cm² at 100 °C, and an ESD threshold was found to exist below 34 eV. Flash desorption of oxygen allowed estimation of the bulk diffusivity of oxygen through polycrystalline Ag. A value of 2.64 × 10^-6cm²s^-1 at 500 °C was obtained.     

Associative ionization in slow collisions of atoms

An analysis of the modern theory of associative ionization (AI) is performed, and ways of its further development are discussed. The threshold behavior of the cross section of endothermic AI reactions is considered and it is shown that, in the quantum case, its dependence on the above-threshold energy E is strictly linear, i.e., significantly different from the E ^3/2 law ensuing from the semiclassical theory. This has a simple explanation, since the matrix elements of the scattering operator are finite at E = 0 due to the tunneling effect. The possibility of describing the dynamics of an elementary AI event within the framework of the diffusion approximation is substantiated, and the conditions of applicability of the theory of “quantum chaos” to treating the spectrum of highly excited Rydberg molecules are examined. The quantum properties of the exothermic processes of AI and Penning ionization in the case of the states of the interacting atoms being autoionizing are discussed in detail. A comparison with the semiclassical theory is presented.     

The vibrational structure of bromocyanoacetylene cation in the X̃2π and Ã2π electronic states studied by emission and laser exci

The vibrational frequencies of bromocyanoacetylene cation in its ground and first excited electronic states have been obtained by recording and analysing the emission and laser excitation spectra of the òπ-X̃²π transition. In the emission experiments the ions are produced rotationally cooled to ca. 10 K by means of a supersonic free jet and in the laser excitation measurements to ca. 100 K by Penning ionisation followed by collisional relaxation. The resulting narrowing of the vibronic bands in the spectra is such that the vibrational frequencies of most of the fundamentals could be inferred to within ± 2 cm⁻¹.     

Spectroscopic study of the production of magnesium ions from the atomic metastable states 3s3p 3 P 0, 2 by electron impact

Spectroscopic studies of the production of MgII ions from atomic metastable states by electron impact in crossed atomic and electron beams were made. Cross sections for excitation of the strongest spectral transitions and their energy dependences were determined. The maximum value of the cross section for ionization with excitation of the 3² S _1/2–3² P _3/2 transition reached 2.4×10^?16 cm². Possible mechanisms of production of excited ions from metastable states and their contribution to the total ionization process are discussed.     

Reactions of excited atoms and molecules with atoms and molecules

Penning electron distributions arising from the ionization of Na and K by He (1s 2s ^1,3 S)-metastables in thermal collisions, as well as the absolute cross section for Penning ionization of Na by He (2³ S) and relative cross sections for ionization of Na and K by He(2¹ S) and He(2³ S) are measured. It is shown that under fairly general conditions the well depth ε* of the interaction potential between the metastable and the target particle can be obtained directly from the measured electron distributions. ε*-values are reported for the moleules He(1s 2s ^1,3 S)-Na(² S), K(² S) (^2,2Ω), and for He(1s 2s ^1,3 S)-Hg(¹ S)(^1,3Ω). These latter values are obtained from previously published measurements and are to be considered preliminary. Further, additional evidence is given, that Penning ionization with metastables is an electron exchange process.     

Elastische und unelastische Streuung von Elektronen an Gasen

The theoretical differential cross section for the elastic scattering and for the excitation of optical transitions in helium by electron impact has been refined in Born approximation by use of the two parameter Eckart eigenfunction for the ground state and for the excited states. The angular distributions of 25 kev electrons scattered elastically and inelastically by helium were measured in the angular range 2·3·10^?4≦?≦4·10^?2. The intensity distribution of the elastically scattered electrons is in accordance with the theoretical curve for?>7·10^?3 and is disturbed at smaller angles by the primary beam. Normalization of the experimental values to the theoretical elastic differential cross section leads to agreement between the experimental differential cross section for the excitation of the 2¹ P and 3¹ P state and the scattering formulae given in this paper. There are small systematic deviations (<20%) for the 2¹ P differential cross section in the angular range 3·10^?3<?<1·10^?2 only. The oscillator strength of these two transitions has been determined from the scattering measurements:f ₂₁=0·312±0·04 andf ₃₁=0·0898±0·006.