Spectrographic Study of the Afterglow of Mercury*

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Abstract
The short duration afterglow of 14 Hg lines was examined, at temperatures of 150°, 200°, 250°, and 300°F, in a cell that had been excited by an rf source. All of the lines exhibited a smooth exponential decay at the lowest temperature. At some temperature above 150°F, however, all of the lines, except the 2537- and 4079-Å lines, exhibited an enhancement of intensity in the time region between 50 and 100 µsec. At the highest temperature all of the lines originating from levels at an energy of 8.84 eV or above, except those originating from the 61D2 and 63D2 levels, reached an intensity above the initial value. Lines originating from all other D levels were enhanced over those originating from P or S levels. The lines originating from 63D3 and 63D2 levels exhibited the largest enhancement. It is postulated that collisions of 63P1 atoms with metastable 63P2 and 63P0 atoms are responsible for this enhancement. Using this assumption we conclude, from the preference for the excitation of D levels, that a partial conservation of orbital angular momentum ΔL=0 occurs and, from the preference for the excitation of the 63D3 and 63D1 levels, that a partial conservation of total angular momentum ΔJ=0 also occurs in these collisions.

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