Deactivation of the xenon atom in the 6$s$ metastable state in collisions with xenon and helium atoms

The absorption probing method was used to investigate collisional deactivation of the metastable $6s[3/2]^2_0(^3P_2)$ state of the xenon atom in high-pressure He – Xe mixtures with a low xenon concentration. Measurements were made of the rate constants of the plasma-chemical reactions Xe$^*$ + Xe + He $\to$ Xe$_2^*$ + He [(1.7 $\pm$ 0.2) $\times$ 10$^{-32}$ cm$^6$ s$^{-1}$], Xe$^*$ + 2He $\to$ HeXe$^*$+He (less than 3 $\times$ 10$^{-35}$ cm$^6$ s$^{-1}$), and Xe$^*$ + He $\to$ products + He (less than 10$^{-15}$ cm$^3$ s$^{-1}$).