Gaseous and surface reactions involving helium metastable atoms and resonance photons

The absolute electron yield ( γ M ) for He (2 3 S ) metastable atoms incident on a gold surface has been measured. The method requires passage of a metastable atom flux through a collision chamber containing argon and thence to the gold surface. From observations on the current of argon ions arising from collisions of the type He (2 3 S ) + A → He + A + + e , together with measurements of the electron emission from the gold surface, γ M may be determined. The total cross-sections for collisions between metastable helium atoms and He, Ne, A and K have been measured and in the asymmetrical cases are observed to rise linearly with increasing atomic number of the target atom. Some collisions involving helium resonance radiation have also been studied. In particular, the photo-electric yield from the gold surface has been determined together with the attenuation of the photon flux in passage through certain noble gases.