Model for cw laser collisionally induced fluorescence in low-temperature discharges

Abstract

A perturbed steady-state rate-equation model has been developed for the cw laser collisionally induced fluorescence (LCIF) produced by excitation on one of the 1s-2p noble gas transitions. This work is one part of a wider complementary modeling program which includes cw optogalvanic spectroscopy, optical emission spectroscopy, and optical absorption spectroscopy, with the overall aim of testing all of these models with the same stringently assembled atomic and discharge data set. Our aim here is to demonstrate the principal features of our cw LCIF model by using it to describe our experimental observations produced by pumping transitions originating on the 1s(5) metastable and 1s(4) resonance states of neon atoms in the positive column of a normal glow discharge at 2.0 Torr and a discharge current of 5 mA. The model shows that these cw LCIF spectra are dominated by 1s-2p excitation and electron collisional coupling among the 2p states. We show that the model allows us to quantify explicitly the various individual contributions to each line in the cw LCIF spectra. The theory and analyses presented here apply equally well to other noble gases and we believe can be modified appropriately for trace noble gases in atomic-molecular mixtures.