Measurement of the electron collision quenching rates of some excited states of Cd I in a He-Cd discharge

Abstract
Electron collisional quenching rate coefficients and radiative lifetimes of the 71S, 61D, 51D, 53D and 63S states of Cd I are investigated by means of time-resolved, laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy in the positive column of a helium-cadmium discharge (i=0-200 mA, PHe=1-6 Torr, nCd=1012-3*1014 cm-3). The collisional rate coefficients measured for the first time are 5.2+or-0.6, 2.3+or-0.8, 07+or-0.2 in units of 10-5 cm3 s-1 for the 61D, 71S and 51D states respectively. Assuming that these quenching collisions are due to collisions towards the neighbouring levels connected by a dipolar interaction, hydrogenic formulas based on the Born-Bethe cross section correctly fit experimental values. The radiative lifetimes deduced from this experiment are found to be in good agreement with those of previous works. In particular, the radiation processes are, for the 5D and 6S triplet states, the dominant part of the quenching. Finally, from the peak amplitude of the LIF signals it is shown that the low-lying 5P states can be described in the discharge by a coronal equilibrium whereas the upper levels are in a collisional one.

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