On the selective Λ-doublet relaxation in CH(X 2Π,v=0,N)

For large quanta of N, CH(X 2Π,v=0,N) radicals were observed to develop Λ-doublet population disequilibra in collisions with Ar. Both time and pressure dependences were measured. This imbalance is due to collisional depletion of the Π(A′) levels and the preferred population of the Π(A″) levels in ΔN−1 steps as described by Alexander and Dagdigian.