16541-35-8Relevant articles and documents
Deexcitation of metastable Ba+
Walker, T. G.,Bonin, K. D.
, p. 1358 - 1363 (1988)
This is a study of the deexcitation mechanisms of the metastable 52D3/2 state of Ba+ in about I atm He buffer gas in the temperature range of 500-650 deg C.The ions were produced by three- photon ionization with light tuned to a resonance between two excited states of Ba, enabling the electron density to be varied independently of the temperature and pressure.The deexcitation is dominated by superelastic scattering of electrons with a cross section of ?se = 45 + 20 A2 (corresponding to an electron-impact excitation cross section of 11 A2 ) and quenching by Ba atoms with a cross section of ?Ba = 130 +/- 25 Angstroem2.No dependence of the deexcitation rate on He density was detected, and we infer an upper limit on the cross section of sHe9*10-22 cm2.