Measurement of electron-impact excitation cross sections out of the neon P-3(2) metastable level - art. no. 032708

We have measured cross sections for the electron-impact excitation out of t he metastable levels of neon into the ten levels of the 2p(5)3p configurati on, Two sources of metastable neon atoms were used, a hollow-cathode discha rge and a fast beam formed via near-resonant charge exchange. Both sources produce a mixed target of Ne in both (P-3(0) and P-3(2)) metastable levels. For the 2p(5)3p excited levels with J = 2 or J = 3, the excitation is domi nated by excitation from the P-3(2) level, and we present cross sections ov er the energy range of 0 to 450 eV. The results are compared with the cross sections for excitation out of the metastable levels of argon and the appl ications to diagnostics of ionized gas systems are discussed.