Collisional deactivation of the $6s'$ states of the Xe atom in the active medium of a high-pressure Ar – Xe laser

The method of absorption probing was used to investigate collisional deactivation of resonant ($6s'[1/2_1^0$]) and metastable ($6s'[1/2]^0_0$) states of the Xe atom in high-pressure Ar – Xe mixtures with low Xe concentrations. The rate constants were determined for the following plasma-chemical reactions: Xe($6s'$) + Ar $\to$ Xe$^*$ + Ar [(1 – 2) $\times$ 10$^{-14}$ cm$^3$ s$^{-1}$], Xe($6s'$) + 2Ar $\to$ ArXe$^*$ + Ar (less than 10$^{-35}$ cm$^6$ s${-1}$), and Xe($6s'$) + Xe + Ar $\to$ Xe$_2^*$ + Ar [(3 – 3) $\times$ 10$^{-32}$ cm$^6$ s$^{-1}$].