Measurement of absolute electron-impact excitation cross sections in Ar and N2 using H and H2 emissions as secondary standards

Abstract

A detailed description is given of a technique in which emissions from H and H2 are used to calibrate an apparatus used for electron-impact emission cross-section measurements in the wavelength range 90–130 nm. Absolute emission cross sections have been measured at 200 eV electron-impact energy for the 120 nm N I line following dissociative excitation of N2 and for the Ar and Ar+ lines at 104.8, 106.7, 92.0, and 93.8 nm respectively. Good agreement with earlier works is obtained in the case of the N I line when earlier data are renormalized to take into account the recent revision of the cross section for production of Lyman α from H2. Measurements of the 104.8 and 106.7 nm lines suggest a 40% cascade component for the latter line at energies of 200 eV and above.