Excitation Processes of Rare Gas Atoms by Electron Impact

Abstract

A study has been made of excitation functions or rare has atoms (He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe) near threshold by observing the UV photons emitted from the first excited states following electron impact, and a comparison is made with previous experiments. The angular intensity distributions of photons emitted from the first excited states of Kr and Xe were also obtained and polarization values were deduced from these measurements. The electron energy loss spectra of He, Ar, Kr, and Xe were measured in the incident electron range of 25 to 45 eV and at scattering angles of 27o and 40o. From these measurements, the inelastic cross sections of the prominent peaks of Ar, Kr, and Xe were obtained, and in addition, the differential excitation functions of Ar, Kr and Xe were studied. A delayed coincidence technique was applied to investigate the angular correlation between electrons scattered inelastically from Kr and photons emitted in the decay of 3P1 and 1P1 states to the ground state.