Transfer of excitation energy from nitrogen molecules to sodium atoms

Abstract

Experiments have been performed in which a beam of N₂, issuing from a furnace source operating at temperatures from 2000 to 3000°K, crossed a beam of sodium atoms. Sodium D-line radiation was observed as a product of the collisions of the two beams. The radiation appears to occur primarily from the transfer of internal energy in the diatomic molecule, which because of the nature of the molecules must be vibrational and rotational only, into electronic energy in the sodium, presumably through the formation of a transitory NaN^*₂ complex. On the assumption that only internal energy transfer is involved, rate coefficients of approximately 10^–10 cm³/sec are found for those molecules with sufficient internal energy to excite the sodium. Weak temperature dependences of the observed rate coefficients are discussed.