Quenching of metastable states of rare gases by copper atoms

The rate constants for quenching of metastable He, Ne, Ak, Kr, and Xe by copper atoms have been measured at room temperature and found to be (0.93, <0.2, 1.4, 2.3, and 2.6×10^-10 cm ³ s^-1, respectively. The rate constants have been measured indirectly, applying an internal calibration method in whch the copper atoms are used as both quenchers and tracers. The quenching cross sections of the metastable rare gases are related to their polarizabilities. It is suggested that the relatively small quenching rate of metastable Ne by Cu might influence the electron temperature of the gas mixture and therefore contributes to the successful use of neon as a buffer gas in the copper-vapor laser.