42P12↔42P32 mixing in potassium induced in collisions with noble gas atoms

Cross sections for$\text{4}{}^2\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{-4}{}^2\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>3</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ mixing in potassium, induced by collisions with noble gas atoms, were determined using the methods of fluorescence spectroscopy. The experiments were carried out at an optical depth of ≤3×10^-2 in the absence of radiation trapping and at noble gas pressures in the mtorr region and yielded the cross sections $\text{Q}{}_1\text{(4}{}^2\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{→4}{}^2\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>3</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{)}$ and $\text{Q}{}_2\text{(4}{}^2\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{« 4}{}^2\text{P}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>3</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{)}$ (in units of 10^-16 cm²) respectively, as follows: for He, 26.3 and 17.8; for Ne, 6.4 and 4.4; for Ar, 16.0 and 11.2; for Kr, 24.9 and 17.7; for Xe, 44.9 and 31.7. These values supersede those reported previously by Chapman and Krause (1966).