COLLISIONAL POOLING OF METASTABLE ZN ATOMS

As the metastable state 4p 3P of Zn atoms is excited by a laser, a series of sensitive fluorescence from higher levels appears. Because of its longer lifetime the collisional effect can be identified. The results show that the pressure of filled argon gas affects the peak intensities and pulse duration of these fluorescences. A rate equation model is proposed and the agreement between theory and experiment is qualitatively established. The pooling process is found to be spin related.