Emission of radiation due to ionization and dissociation of N2O by electron impact

Cross sections for emission of the N2O+ (A2Σ+ - X2 π i) System (3300 – 4000 A) from different vibrational upper levels have been measured for 0–2000 eV electrons on N2O. Lifetimes are presented for five different A2Σ+ vibrational states. They range from 260 ns for the A2Σ+ (0,0,0) to 236 ns for the A2Σ+ (0,0,1) level. It has been found that predissociation of the A2Σ+ (1,0,0) level must be far less important than assumed previously by other groups. Another emission, between 2200–3300 A, has also been studied. It has an appearance-potential of 15 eV, 1.4 eV below that of the N2O+ (A2Σ+ - X2πi) radiation, resulting from dissociative excitation of N2O via a super excited state. For the lifetime of the upper state of this emission we find 1.7 (±0.1) μs, slightly varying over the band system.