EXCITATION-ENERGY TRANSFER FROM THE METASTABLE EXCITED HE 2(3)S1 ATOMTO THE NEON CRYOCRYSTAL

The effect of formation in a neon cryocrystal of atomic-type 2p(5)3s P -3(2) centres obtained as a result of He gas discharge products being trapped in a growing neon cryocrystal is discovered. The unstable exci ted 2p(5)3s P-3(2) states in the neon cryocrystal were detected by ESR . This effect is interpreted as a new phenomenon: quasi-resonance tran sfer of excitation energy from the metastable He 2(3)S1 atom trapped i n a growing neon cryocrystal to the exciton energy band of the neon cr ystal followed by the exciton self-trapping into the 2p(5)3p state and subsequent decay, ending in the 2p(5)3s P-3(2) state recorded by ESR in our experiment. A temperature study showed that the rate constant l ambda of the process of excitation energy transfer from the He 2(3)S1 atom to the neon cryocrystal exciton band follows the Arrhenius-like l aw lambda - lambda0 exp(-E/kT); the 'activation energy' E of the proce ss turns out to be 0.0010(5) eV.