THE KINETICS OF CHARGE-EXCHANGE BETWEEN ARGON AND MAGNESIUM IN THE INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA

With the use of a simplified model of the magnesium atom, several poss ible approaches to the measurement of charge exchange rates between Mg and Ar in the inductively coupled plasma were developed. Two of the a pproaches, which used pulsed dye lasers to populate the Mg II levels t hat are close to resonance for charge exchange, were tested experiment ally. The experiments yielded an effective rate constant for the trans fer of charge from Mg+ to Ar of 1.1 x 10(8) s-1. This value is a facto r of 50 lower than previously published estimates. The rate of charge transfer from Ar+ to Mg was not determined.