Transition Probabilities of Neutral and Singly Ionized Germanium

Absolute transition probabilities are measured for 24 prominent Ge I and Ge II lines between 3200 and 6500 Å. Spectroscopic plasmas are generated by the shock heating of neon or argon containing (0.2-2.0)% Ge${\mathrm{H}}_4$ to temperatures 10 200-12 600° K at pressures of (6-32) × ${10}^6$ dyn ${\mathrm{cm}}^{-2\mathrm{}}$. To reduce possibilities for bias, the state of the light source and the integrated energy of emitted lines were determined redundantly. $A$ values were measured by methods inherently insensitive to possible temperature errors. Ionic transition probabilities [estimated accuracies (23-50%] are compared with central-field approximations and are tested for conformity with quantum-mechanical sum rules. Neutral germanium data [accuracies (30->50)%] are compared with other experimental results.