Effect of the collisional mixing process on the emission intensities of a neon hollow-cathode discharge

A dynamic optogalvanic signal generated by-chopped CW single-frequency diod e laser irradiation at 633.443 nm (1s(5) - 2p(s) neon transition in Paschen notation) and the subsequent changes in the emission intensities for 2p(i) - 1s(5) (i = 1 - 10) transitions were measured simultaneously in the negat ive glow region of a hollow-cathode discharge. It was found that changes in the emission intensities increased by several times as the excitation wave length changed its position from the exact center wavelength to the line-wi ng of the transition. The results can be interpreted in terms of the collis ional mixing process, which directly couples the metastable 1s(5) with othe r 1s(j) (j = 2-4) levels.