HIGH-RESOLUTION STUDY OF COLLISION-INDUCED TRANSITIONS FROM N-2(A(3)SIGMA(U)(+), UPSILON=10) TO N-2(B(3)PI(G), UPSILON=2)

The collision-induced intramolecular energy transfer N2(A3SIGMA(u)+) + M-->N2(B 3PI(g)) + M was studied under molecular beam conditions using Xe and N2 as the collision partners.Specifically, the near-resonant transfer between the levels A, nu'' = 10-->B, nu' = 2 was investigated by means of the product emission, isolated by an interference filter. The rotational and fine structure levels of the A, nu'' = 10 reactant state were labeled by selective narrow-band laser pumping. The laser was scanned over the whole B, 12 <-- A, 10 band and the subsequent decrease in the collision-induced emission B, 2-->A, 0 was recorded. Repeating the scan, the laser-induced fluorescence intensity was recorded. These spectra are similar, showing that there is no significant dependence of the cross section for collision-induced energy transfer on the rotational or fine structure state of the reactant N2(A, nu'' = 10) molecules.