Quenching of the3pSo4atomic-nitrogen state in a low-pressure nitrogen glow discharge

A laser perturbation method is used to determine the relaxation rate of the $3p{}_{}{}^4{}_{}{}^{}S_{}^o{}_{}{}^{}$ state of atomic nitrogen as function of pressure and current intensity in a glow discharge. Quenching is due to spontaneous radiative transitions towards lower levels and to inelastic collisions with ${\mathrm{N}}_2$ in the vibrationally excited ground state with a thermally averaged cross section of about 7.5×${10}^{-14\mathrm{}}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^2$. Measurements allow the determination of the dissociation rate as a function of electronic temperature in the range 1-3 eV.