Collisional deactivation of Xe(5p56p) states in Xe and Ar

One-photon excitation in the afterglow of a pulsed discharge and two-photon excitation in a static cell have been used to generate the six Xe(5p⁵6p) states in variable pressures of Xe. The decay times of the initially excited states and their products have been analyzed to obtain state-to-state rate constants at 300 K for collisional transfer among the Xe(5p⁵6p) levels and the Xe(5p⁵6s') levels. The depolarization rate constants for the Xe(5p[5/2]₂) and Xe(5p[3/2]₂) states prepared by two-photon excitation were measured to be ∼6×10^-10 cm³ molecule^-1 s^-1. The collisional deactivation rate constants of the two-photon prepared states, Xe(6p[1/2]₀), Xe(6p[3/2]₂), and Xe(6p[5/2]₂), in Ar also are reported.