Photoionization of metastable rare-gas atoms (He*,Ne*,Ar*,Kr*,Xe*)

Abstract

Cross sections σ for the photoionization of metastable rare-gas atoms (He*-Xe*) over a wide range of photon energies are presented. In marked contrast to that found for He* where σ∼10−18 cm2 and decreases monotonically with photon energy, the cross sections σ for Ne*-Xe* are much smaller ∼10−19 cm2 and exhibit optical windows within the wavelength range 2000–3000 Å of current laser interest.