Abstract

The behaviour of quenching of the NO B2Π state with NO collider has been studied using the B-X transition. Different rotational lines were excited in the vibrational levels v' = 0, 2, and 3 by laser radiation in a cell containing slowly flowing gas. Single exponential decays were observed, and the decay constants plotted vs. pressure to obtain quenching rate coefficients k_Q. The radiative lifetimes from the intercepts are close to accepted values and independent of rotation.¹ k_Q for low N are about 8 µs^-1Torr^-1, and similar for all vibrational levels studied. This contrasts with results for other colliders in previous experiments,^1,2 which found v = 1 and 2 to quench much more slowly than v = 0 and 3. In each level there exists a rotational dependence of k_Q, exhibiting a smooth decrease of about 10% when N increases from 1 to 20.

© 1993 Optical Society of America