DOI: 10.1051/jp2:1997103
J. Phys. II France 7 (1997) 687-705

Study of a Calcium Afterglow in a Broida Oven

F. Fethi¹, M. Bourgoin¹, F. Poblete² and G. Taieb<sup>1

1</sup>  Laboratoire de Photophysique Moléculaire du CNRS, Université de Paris-Sud, Bâtiment 213, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
²  Departamento de Quimica-Fisica Facultad de Ciencias, Campus Universitario S/N, Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain

(Received 12 June 1996, received in final form 4 February 1997, accepted 15 February 1997)

Abstract
A systematic study of a Broida source producing atomic calcium in ground state ¹S and first metastable ¹D and ³P states is presented. The relative concentration of the metastables, produced by a DC discharge, is monitored with carrier gas pressure, heating power and discharge current, and it is observed that low values of these parameters are favourable to ¹D formation. These results are interpreted in terms of relative values of cross section of energy pooling forming the first resonant state ¹P, and the ratio of these cross section is estimated to be . Some properties of the source are described, including auto-absorptions of transitions originating from the ³P and collisional relaxation of reaction products of Ca with halogenated compounds. An example of utilization of the source for the study of metastable reactivity is presented.

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