SPONTANEOUS EMISSION LIFETIME OF THE C-] A BAND OF THE XEF MOLECULE

The radiative lifetime of the blue C → A transition of XeF has been measured to be 93 ± 5 ns by monitoring the exponentially decaying 460 nm emission following rapid electron impact dissociation of XeF2. By varying the XeF2 partial pressure, the rate constant for quenching of XeF (C) by XeF2 was determined to be (1.8 ± 0.5) 10–10 cm3. s-1. Finally, knowledge of the XeF B and C state lifetimes yields a revised value of 610 ± 60 cm-1 for the B to C state energy defect. Copyright © 1979 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.