Kinetic studies of Ar2F* in electron-beam excited Ar–NF3 mixtures

The fluorescence of ArF* and Ar2F* produced in e-beam exited mixtures of Ar, NF3, and He was investigated. Ar2F* is mainly generated via ArF* by ionic channels and by Ar*2. However, also the direct production from Ar*2 was observed. Rate constants for the production and quenching of Ar2F* are deduced from the measurements. Due to the long exciting pulse of 45 ns, the fluorescence efficiency became rather low and was determined to be 0.1 Ar2F* photons/excited argon atom at optimum conditions.