Radiative quenching of the 3P2 metastable states of Ar, Kr, and Xe colliding with He and Ne atoms

Quenching of the 3P2 metastable state during thermal collisions (T∼300K) of Ar*, Kr*, Xe*+He, and Ne as the result of the induced, by interatomic interaction, radiative decay to the ground state is considered. The temperature dependence of the cross sections of radiative transitions averaged over a Maxwellian distribution is computed. The cross sections of radiative quenching obtained, when added to the cross sections for inelastic transitions 3P2→3P1 computed previously, give the total cross sections for collisional quenching of the metastable 3P2 states