Abstract

Optical transitions from two microwave discharge excited states of argon have been observed using cavity ring-down spectroscopy. These transitions originate on the high-lying levels, 3d[1/2] 1° and 3d[3/2] 2° , and terminate on the nf ′[5/2] Rydberg (n = 8 to 22) levels, which, except for n = 8, lie between the 2P3/2 and 2P1/2 ionization thresholds. In total, 24 such spectral lines have been observed. The quantum defect for the f ′ series has been measured and is compared to previously measured values. We observe a nearly threefold jump in line width in going from n = 8 to n = 9, below and above the 2P3/2 threshold, respectively. The line widths are broad and increase monotonically with n (above 9), in contrast to the narrowing of line widths usually observed. We cannot attribute this to a single source but conclude that collisional, quasielastic l-mixing of the nf ′[5/2] Rydberg states plays a significant role.

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