Excimer densities and destruction mechanisms in a high pressure pure mercury positive column

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Abstract
A study of a pure mercury vapor dc discharge at gas densities of 0.75×1018 to 1019 cm−3 and currents of 30–100 mA has allowed us to determine the densities of the atomic 6 3P0,1,2, and 7 3S1 levels and the dimer 31u level as well as the density of free electrons. We find the density of the 31u level (which radiates the 335 nm band) to be several orders of magnitude below that needed for lasing on this transition. An analysis of the measured spacial profiles leads us to conclude that mercury trimers figure prominently into the kinetics of the system and that the destruction of these trimers is primarily by electron collisions. We also report evidence that the three‐body rate for production of trimers from dimers greatly exceeds that for the formation of dimers from excited atoms. The procedures for analysis of the spacial profiles developed here constitute a new method for the semiquantitative determination of rate coefficients not otherwise accessible to measurement.