Time-of-flight determination of lifetimes of N2+(A 2Πu)-the Meinel band system

Abstract

Radiative lifetimes of N2+(A 2Πu ) have been determined for vibrational levels v′=1−8. They decrease monotonically from 13.9± 1.0 μ sec for ν′=1 to 7.3 ± 0.5 μ sec for v′=8. A time-of-flight method was used to overcome collisional and diffusion effects that have affected most other measurements.