Thomas M. Holzberlein

Transition Probabilities for H2, D2, N2, N2+, and CO

The previously observed quenching of the a 3Σg+ state of the hydrogen molecule by neutral collision has been confirmed by a study of deuterium. Lifetimes have also been measured for what are believed to be the B 2Σu+ state of N2+; the C 3Πu state of N2; and the b 3Σ, d 3Π, and B 1Σ states of CO.

Radiative Lifetime of the B 2Σ+ State of CO+

The lifetime of the B 2Σ+ state of CO+ was measured by noting the decay time of 11 band heads of the (0, 0), (0, 1), (1, 0), and (1, 2) electronic–vibrational transitions of the Baldet–Johnson system. The lifetime exhibited no pressure dependence and no variation of the lifetime was noted for different rotational or vibrational levels. The lifetimes of the υ′ = 0 and υ′ = 1 states are 51.0 ± 0.7 and 52.2 ± 1.8 nsec, respectively. These lifetimes are in agreement with other recent measurements.

Cylindrical Onset Waves

A method is presented to evaluate quantitatively the operation of the invertron, a recently developed device for measuring directly the lifetimes of quantized systems lying in the nanosecond range. The device consists of two electrodes in cylindrical geometry, the inner positive‐grid electrode being 45% transparent to electrons while the outer is an rf‐heated cathode.