Engineering topics

Cunningham, A. J.

Publications and source records attributed to Cunningham, A. J..

7 records

NASA NTRS1989

Measurements of oscillator strengths for EUV emissions of ionized oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur

Oscillator-strength determinations for EUV branching emissions of atomic oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur are reported. The transitions studied were excited using a beam-foil source and both branching ratios and radiative lifetimes were determined. Calculated transition-probability data for multiply-ionized neon and oxygen emissions were used to obtain an in situ relative sensitivity curve for the EUV detection system used. New oscillator strengths for NII, OII, SII, and SIII EUV branching emissions that terminate on metastable states of the respective ions are reported, together with new lifetime data for ionized sulfur emissions.

Ryan, L. J.↗

NASA NTRS1983

S II and S III branching ratios in the 600- to 1200-A interval

Branching ratios are presented of singly and doubly ionized sulfur EUV emissions. They are determined by measuring the relative photon intensities of each of the branching components. For several transitions in S II for which mean lifetimes have been measured with fast-beam spectroscopy, the data presented here are used to determine transition probabilities. The S II transitions originate from the 2P, 4s-prime 2D, and 4s 2P terms and terminate on the metastable states of the ion. The S III transitions originate from the 3d 3D0, 4s 3P0, 3p3 3S0, 4s 1P0, and 3s3p3 1P0 terms and terminate on the metastable and ground ionic states. The results for S III include branching ratios involving intercombination transitions that affect ongoing modeling of the energy budget of the Io plasma torus.

Morrison, M. D.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Vacuum ultraviolet monochromator calibration using measured atomic branching ratios

It is noted that there now exists a compendium of experimentally measured transition probability ratios for ionized transitions of oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur, which can be used for calibration in the VUV spectral region. The emissions proposed for use in this context span the 485-1124 A wavelength interval, and can be easily excited using low pressure discharge lamps of conventional design and dispersed using a monochromator of moderate resolution.

Morrison, M. D.↗

NASA NTRS1983

EUV branching ratios for ionized nitrogen and oxygen emissions

Branching ratios of single ionized atomic nitrogen and oxygen EUV emissions that terminate on the metastable states of the respective ions are presented. The four NII ratios and the 482/515 A ratio in OII reported represent the first measured values. Details of the wavelength calibration procedures adopted and a brief discussion of two modeling implications of the measured ratios are included.

Morrison, M. D.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Measured branching ratios for O II2D and 2P transitions in the wavelength range 530 to 800 A

Branching ratios for four sets of extreme ultraviolet transitions terminating on the 2D0 and 2P0 metastable levels of ionized oxygen have been measured. The emissions were excited in both an open window hollow cathode and a capillary discharge lamp, and the branching ratios were derived from the observed intensity ratios of the multiplet pairs. The results are in good agreement with theoretical values and compare favorably, within experimental uncertainties, with line ratios obtained by EUV spectroscopy of the airglow.

Morrison, D.↗

NASA NTRS1981

On the role of vibrational excitation in dissociative recombination

An improved physical model of dissociative recombination is presented and applied to experimental data on the temperature dependence of rate coefficients for the rare-gas and atmospheric-gas ions. It is shown that in the charge neutralisation of the rare-gas dimer ions, autoionisation plays an important role (at least in comparison with the atmospheric-gas ions) and contributes to the fast fall-off in the rate coefficient with vibrational excitation observed in shock tube studies. Numerical estimates of the observed fall-off in rate coefficient with increasing vibrational excitation are also presented.

Cunningham, A. J.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Laboratory study of the O I /7990 A/ branching ratio

Branching ratios for several atomic oxygen 3p 3D transitions have been studied. A value of 0.0004 + or - 20% for the O I (7990 A) branching ratio was obtained, which is much smaller than the previously accepted value and in accord with recent calculations and interpretations of the auroral extreme-ultraviolet spectra. Measurements of the O I (7002 A) and O I (11,287 A) multiplets give branching ratios of 0.05 and 0.10, which are in better accord with calculations. As part of this experiment, results of a study of the highly structured O2 photoabsorption cross section in the neighborhood of the multiplets are also reported.

Christensen, A. B.↗