Excitation of the 2p levels of Ne by low-energy electrons

Excitation rate coefficients for the 2p levels of neon by collisions with slow electrons have been measured using an electron drift tube technique. The rate coefficient for the 2p 1 level per cm of electron drift and per neon atom alpha 1 /N varied from 4.4*10 -21 to 3.8*10 -18 cm 2 in the measured range of the ratio of the electric field to neon density E/N from 4.5*10 -17 to 2.0*10 -15 V cm 2 . The relative dependence of the measured values of alpha 1 /N on E/N is in agreement with that of the values calculated from the Boltzmann analysis using a set of recently reported cross sections, although the experimental values are smaller than the calculated ones by about 25 to 30% in absolute scale. The values of the excitation rate coefficients for other 2p levels relative to the value for the 2p 1 level, which have been measured at E/N=1*10 -15 V cm 2 , are in good agreement with the calculation when the cascade contribution from the higher lying levels is taken into account.