The Quenching of Mercury Resonance Radiation by Compounds Containing Deuterium

The quenching of mercury resonance radiation by hydrogen, deuterium, ammonia, deutero-ammonia, water vapor and heavy water vapor has been measured. It has been possible to correlate the differences in quenching efficiencies between the heavy and ordinary compounds with the changes in the vibrational level of the molecules which are brought about by the introduction of deuterium atoms. The quenching cross sections obtained fall on the general type of resonance curve.