Enhancement of the excited-state population in a hydrogen-atom beam

Abstract

A method for enhancing the population of excited states in a hydrogen atom beam is reported which is based on charge exchange of a deuteron or proton beam with lithium vapor rather than water vapor. An experiment was conducted to show the enhancement relative to water vapor; an increase by a factor of --3 was obtained. The excitedstate population varies less than 15% over a range of beam velocities equivalent to 15 to 42 kev. (D.L.C.)