Pulse radiolysis study of argon-nitrogen mixtures. Measurement of the rate constant of metastable argon de-excitation by nitrogen

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The postluminescence of N2(C 3Πu→ B 3Πg) induced by the transfer of energy to nitrogen by 3P2 metastable argon atoms obtained by the pulsed radiolysis of argon-nitrogen mixtures has been studied spectrophoto-electrically. The emission decay lifetime τ is controlled by the destruction of metastable argon atoms. The variation of 1/τ as a function of the argon or nitrogen pressure is used to determine the rate constants k1(Ar*+N2)=3± 0.3 × 10−11cm3sec−1 and k2(Ar*+2Ar)=6± 0.4 × 10−33cm6sec−1. The general reaction process is discussed. The results obtained seem to show that the metastables are formed mainly from the dissociative recombination of Ar2+ ions.