The use of radiative transition rates to study the changes in the excitation of Cu ions in a Ne glow discharge caused by small additions of H2, O2 and N2

The excitation of Cu+ ions in a Ne glow discharge with small additions of H2, O2 and N2 was studied. Ratios of radiative transition rates between different Cu II levels in a discharge in neon, with and without the molecular gas added, were calculated, and the formalism of transition rate ratio (TRR) diagrams was developed and used to study the changing excitation conditions. Virtually no changes in the excitation of Cu+ ions occur in a neon discharge if nitrogen is added. Additions of hydrogen and oxygen to neon as the discharge gas affect excitation of the 4d, 5s and some other Cu II levels in the vicinity of the ionization energy of neon (21.56 eV). Also some lower Cu II levels, excited by radiative decay of those higher energy levels, are affected. The 4p 3P2 level at 15.96 eV is enhanced by additions of hydrogen. It was suggested that this enhancement is caused by the asymmetric charge transfer reaction between neutral copper atoms and the H2+ molecular ions.