THERMAL-ENERGY CHARGE-TRANSFER IN THE ZN-AR SYSTEM

Charge transfer was predicted in the Zn-Ar system. We have shown experimentally the validity of this prediction and that in fact Ar+ excites the Zn+ 2P3/2,1/2 states. Moreover, we find that this process preferentially excites the J= (1)/(2) state in this mixture. This is inferred from the behavior of the intensity ratio of the transition from these two states in correlation with the intensity of the 811.5-nm line of Ar i, where the latter is a measure for Ar ionization. Our model is based on the molecular states of Zn+Ar and Ar+Zn. The model displays a plausible curve crossings leading to the preference 2P1/2 excitation.