Direct Electron Excitation Cross Sections Pertinent to the Argon Ion Laser

Abstract

Absolute direct excitation cross sections from the neutral ground state have been measured for upper levels of the strongest laser transitions in Ar II to within errors of \ensuremath{\approx}20%. Reasonable agreement is obtained with calculated values of these cross sections based on the "sudden" approximation made by Koozekanani with Hartree-Fock wave functions and intermediate coupling.