Collisional relaxation of electronically excited copper: 3d9 4s2 (2D5/2)

A flash photolysis experiment whereby optically metastable copper atoms (3d9 4s2 2D5/2) were produced in a high temperature (600 °K) reaction cell by the photodecomposition of copper halides (CuCl and CuI) is described. The subsequent decay of these low-lying electronically excited copper atoms was monitored by time resolved atomic resonance absorption techniques to provide collisional quenching rate constants for relaxation of the 2D5/2 state by He, Ar, Xe, N2, CO, CO2, SF6, and O2.