Magnetic field assisted enhancement in number density of metastable krypton (Kr*) atoms in a krypton atomic beam

The results on magnetic field assisted enhancement in number density of metastable krypton (Kr*) atoms in an atomic beam generated from radio frequency (RF) discharge plasma of krypton gas, have been presented in the present paper. We observed that by applying a low external magnetic field perpendicular to the beam path after the discharge tube, the number density of Kr* atoms in the atomic beam gets enhanced. At similar to 1 Gauss of applied magnetic field, we observed nearly two-fold enhancement from similar to 1.5x10(6) to similar to 3x10(6) cm(-3) in number density of Kr* atoms in the atomic beam. This enhancement in number density is attributed to applied field assisted alignment of the path of electrons and Kr-ions along the atomic beam direction. The alignment of electrons and Kr-ions along the atomic beam direction results in increase in number density of Kr* atoms due to occurrence of more electron-ion recombination events in the beam path.