Heavy-ion excitation of rare-gas excimers

Beams of high-energy heavy ions (Ar and U) from the UNILAC accelerator have been used to excite rare gases at pressures near 1 bar. The dominant spectroscopic feature observed in Ar, Kr, and Xe gases was molecular excimer emission at the second excimer continuum at 130, 150, and 170 nm, respectively. The excimer radiation was studied as a function of time (with respect to the excitation pulse), ion-beam current, pressure, and excitation density. The efficiency of excimer production from heavy-ion-beam energy was found to be several percent. Details of spectral shape, especially the ratio of first-to-second continuum emission, were found to depend on pressure and exciting beam type.