Optogalvanic monitoring of collisional transfer of laser excitation energy in a neon RF plasma

摘要

The optogalvanic signals produced by pulsed laser excitation of 1s5--2p8 and 1s5-2p9 (Paschen notation) transition by a (approximately)29 MHz radiofrequency (rf) discharge at (approximately)5 torr have been investigated. The optogalvanic signal produced by 1s5-2p9 excitations indicates that there is transfer of energy from the 2p9 state to some other state. The state to which this energy is transferred is believed to be mainly the 2p8 state because of the very small energy gap between the 2p9 and 2p8 states. To verify this transfer, the 1s5-2p8 transition was investigated. The similarity of the temporal profiles of the optogalvanic signals in both excitations confirms the collisional transfer of laser excitation energy from 2p9 to 2p8.