THE APPLICATION OF LASER INDUCED FLUORESCENCE TO THE STUDY OF ELECTRON IMPACT EXCITATION OF ATOMS AND MOLECULES.

A tunable dye laser system has been coupled to an electron - atom/molecule collision experiment in order to probe the collision products by laser induced fluorescence. The gaseous target is produced by supersonic free expansion from a nozzle orifice. We have applied this technique to the study of (i) near-threshold electron impact excitation of the 1s(,3) and 1s(,5) neon metastable levels and the s('1)S helium metastable level, (ii) the rotational level population distribution of ground state N(,2)('+) obtained by electron impact and (iii) radiative lifetimes in neon and N(,2)('+). We present results for (i) the branching ratio of resonance features into the two neon metastable channels, (ii) rotational excitation of the N(,2)('+) molecule during the ionization process and (iii) radiative lifetimes of the neon 2p(,2) level and the N(,2)('+) B('2)(SIGMA)(,u)('+) (v = 0) rotational levels. We have demonstrated the feasibility of the technique and discuss several possible future avenues of research.Dept. of Physics. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1985 .Z575. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 46-09, Section: B, page: 3103. Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1985.