Radiative lifetimes of the CO a′3Σ+, b3Σ+, c3Π, d3Δ and B1Σ+ states. Absolute emission cross sections for t

Radiative lifetimes have been measured for the CO a′³Σ⁺(ν′=4–9), b³Σ⁺(ν′= 0), c³Π(ν′=0), d³Δ(ν′=1–16) and B¹Σ⁺(ν′= 0) states. Our experimental values, arranged in the same order, are 7–10 μs, 56 ns, 16 ns, 3–7.5 μs, 34 ns. Some of these values disagree with the results of previous experiments. To our opinion this is due to an incomplete identification of the emission spectrum in regions where many bands may overlap, dependent on the applied spectral resolution. For the a′Σ⁺?a³Π and d³Δ?a³Π emissions effective cross sections for quenching by CO molecules are given. In connection with the identification of the spectrum, absolute emission cross sections for electrons incident on CO have been measured for the b³Σ⁺?a³Π and c³Π?a₃Π transitions. For an electron energy, corresponding to the maximum of the excitation function we find cross sections of 5.94 (?1.2) × 10^?18 cm² and 0.630 (? 0.13) × 10^?18 cm², respectively.