ZOscillations in the Excitation of2sVacancies in Ne III Measured by Radiative Decay

Collisional excitation of neon atoms in light sources such as electric discharges, beam-foil interactions, etc., leads to a statistical population of the excited multiplets. This communication shows an anomalously high singlet-to-triplet ratio when the $2s2p^5{}_{}{}^1{}_{}{}^{}P$, ${}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}P$ levels in Ne III are populated by impact of 100-keV projectiles (helium to potassium). Further, an oscillatory sturcture has been observed as a function of the element number of the projectile.