Excitation of Electronic Levels of Sodium by Vibrationally Excited Nitrogen

Detailed temporal behavior of laser-excited sodium tracer in nitrogen and application to nitrogen number density measurements at low densities

Detailed rate equation modeling of the laser-excited sodium-molecular nitrogen system was conducted to investigate the applicability of the steady-state three-level model to prediction of sodium laser-induced fluorescence intensities. Redistribution of vibrational population in the nitrogen molecules can, under some conditions, produce a transition to a second-state condition not predicted by the simple three-level model. The feasibility of a major species number density measurement using tracer gas impurity laser-induced fluorescence is discussed in light of the sodium-nitrogen modeling results.

Vibration-electronic coupling in the quenching of electronically excited alkali atoms by diatomics

This paper reviews the ionic intermediate curve crossing model and the quenching of electronically excited atoms by simple diatomics and extends previous calculations to include predictions for the partial cross sections of the first electronic state of all the alkali atoms by N(2) and CO. Also included are calculations on the partial cross sections for Na quenching in high vibrational temperature environments, Na quenching by the inert gases, and the relaxation of N(2) vibrational energy in collisions with alkali atoms. An extension of this curve crossing model to ionization processes in the alkali atoms and to reactions involving covalent curve crossing is briefly discussed.