The radiative lifetime and quenching of KrF

Abstract

Excitation of atomic krypton in the presence of molecular fluorine by a wavelength-selective 2.5-ns-long argon excimer photolytic source was used to initiate the reaction sequence resulting in the formation of excited KrF. The radiative lifetime of the KrF* laser transition was found to be 9 ns at the high-pressure limit. This is in good agreement with the calculated values. The rate constant for two-body quenching of KrF* by F2 is 5.7±0.5×10−10 cm3 s−1 and the rate constant for three-body quenching by Kr is 2.9±0.3×10−31 cm3 s−1.