Sensitized fluorescence in zinc, induced in collisions with excited Hg atoms

Abstract

The transfer of excitation energy, induced in inelastic collisions between excited Hg atoms and ground state Zn atoms, was studied using methods of sensitized fluorescence. Hg atoms in a low density Hg–Zn mixture were excited with Hg 2537 Å resonance radiation to the 63P1 state, and interacted with the Zn atoms which became collisionally excited to the 43P1 state and then decayed emitting sensitized fluorescence. Measurements of relative intensities of Hg 2537 Å resonance fluorescence and Zn 3076 Å sensitized fluorescence yielded the cross section of 5.9 × 10−2 Å2 for Hg(63P1) → Zn(43P1) excitation transfer. The addition of small quantities of N2 to the Hg–Zn vapor mixture enhanced the efficiency of the transfer. The cross section for quenching of the Zn 43P1 state by collisions with N2 was found to be 0.19 Å2.