ABSOLUTE CHEMILUMINESCENCE CROSS SECTIONS AND PHOTON YIELDS FOR $M^{*} + N_{2}O$ (M = Mg, Ca, Sr)

Abstract

Chemiluminescent reactions of metastable alkaline earth atoms with $N_{2} O$ have been studied under single-collision conditions in a beam-gas configuration. Absolute chemiluminescence cross sections are determined by a method which does not require knowledge of the absolute detection efficiency. Photon yields are also derived for the reactions through the use of measured beam attenuation cross sections. In the reaction $Ca(^{3}P)+ N_{2}O$ a Chemiluminescence cross section of 6 {\AA}$^{2}$ and a 10\% photon yield are found.