On the decay of the xenon(1s3) and(1s2) levels in the afterglow of a He/Xe discharge

The decay of resonance and metastable atomic states in the afterglow of a pulsed driven low-pressure glow discharge in a He/Xe mixture (2% Xe) has been studied. Laser atom absorption spectroscopy has been used to measure the temporal evolution of optical densities. For that the transitions at 820.6 nm and 826.6 nm were used to probe the atomic states Xe(1s(3)) and Xe(1s(2)), respectively. A set of balance equations is used to describe the temporal behaviour of excited atomic states and the electron temperature. Collisions with electrons are shown to be the main quenching channel for the metastable atoms and those with helium atoms for the resonance levels. The rate coefficients of these processes are estimated.