Quenching of excited Xe* (3P2, 3P1, 1P1) states in a neon–xenon mixture

The decay of the concentration of metastable Xe* (3P2) in a neon–xenon mixture has been measured using the stationary afterglow technique in the pressure range 0.2–100 Torr, at 295° K. The diffusion coefficient of Xe* (3P2) in neon has been determined as D′0=143(±10) cm2 s−1 at 1 Torr. The reaction rates for collisional quenching of Xe* (3P2) in two-body and three-body collisions have been measured, yielding k1=1.85(±0.31) ×10−16 cm3 molecule−1 s−1 for the two-body process Xe* (3P2) +Ne and k2=1.19(±0.19) ×10−32 cm6 molecule−1 s−1 for the three-body process Xe* (3P2)+Xe+Ne. XeNe* excimers resulting from collisions involving Xe(3P1) states are also observed.