Excitation of gases with positive ions

Abstract

The aurora borealis presents problems the solutions to which depend partly on knowing the cross sections for the excitation of states in atmospheric gases by the impact of energetic protons and electrons. We have begun a study of the excitation processes induced in N 2 and O 2 by energetic incident positive ions (H +, H 2 +, H 3 +). The particles, accelerated with a 2 MV Van de Graa accelerator, enter a differentially pumped gas cell in which the pressure can be varied up to 80 mTorr and held constant to 0.1 mTorr at each setting. Light generated in the cell is observed at 90 ° to the particle beam. The light is reflected by a mirror system so as to enter the input slit of a 1-m, air, Czerny-Turner spectrometer. The 1200 1/mm grating is blazed at 500 nm. A cooled 9659B photomultiplier tube detects the light which appears at the exit slit, and transmits intensity information to a 4000-channel multiscaler. The incident beam is received on an insulated plate, and the collected charge provides a signal which advances both the grating angle and the channel in the multiscaler. Using a line width of 0.03 to 0.1 nm, we have obtained spectra from 360 to 750 nm. Many transitions have been identified, most from N 2 + O 2 −, but some from neutral molecules and monatomic emitters. Data have been taken as a function of pressure and type of incident particle for a particle velocity corresponding to 500 keV protons. There is no discernible difference in relative yield for the different bombarding species. The line intensities all appear to be linear with pressure over the range we used. We will describe our results and discuss our approach to making cross-section measurements. Possible extensions of the experiments into different directions will also be mentioned.