Measurement of diffusion coefficients for ground-state and metastable copper atoms in rare gases

The diffusion coefficients for ground-state ( 2 S 1 2/) copper atoms in He, Ne and Ar and those for metastable ( 2 D 3 2/) copper atoms in Ne and Ar were determined experimentally. By producing copper vapour in a low-power hollow cathode discharge, measurements were performed near room temperature. The diffusion coefficients for Cu( 2 D 3 2/) were approximately equal to the corresponding quantities for Cu( 2 S 1 2/).