Electron excitation of mercury atom spectral lines at meV resolution

Abstract

We have studied the optical excitation functions (OEFs) for 12 mercury spectral lines emerging from n 1S 0, n 1P 1, n 1D 2, n 3S 1, n 3P j and n 3D j -levels using the modified hypocycloidal electron monochromator to produce the electron beam with the 10–70 meV energy spread. The OEFs reveal nearly 100 features due to the decay of short-lived negative-ion states.