Collisional energy transfer between helium and neon in a glow

discharge
Cherrie May M. Olaya , Rommil Emperado, Joshua Beringuela, Krizia Isabel A. Lampa and
Wilson O. Garcia
National Institute of Physics, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City

Corresponding author: colaya@nip.upd.edu.ph

Abstract
Optical emission measurements were made on He, Ne and a mixture
of pre-excited He and unexcited Ne to demonstrate the energy transfer
mechanism between He and Ne. The emission spectra of He, Ne and HeNe
mixture were compared. Collisional energy transfer between the excited
states of He and Ne were observed by the increase in the 2p5 5s1 line
intensity of Ne and the decrease in the 23 S1 and 21 S0 line intensity of He.
PACS Number:
Demonstration experiments (physics education)
(01.50.My), Spectral sources, electric-discharge (52.80.Yr), Spectroscopy
in atomic and molecular physics (07.57.-c)

1.

Introduction

Helium-neon (HeNe) lasers are CW gas lasers which are simple, reliable, and cost-efficient. As such, these
devices are among the most common and familiar types of lasers [1]. Laser action occurs in the excited states
of Ne. The purpose of He is to facilitate pumping by transferring the energy it gained from electron collisions
to the states in the unexcited Ne. Figure 1 shows the relevant energy transitions in the lasing action of a
HeNe laser [1,2].

Figure 1: Relevant energy levels of the HeNe laser [3]

Electrons are accelerated across the HeNe laser tube by a potential difference. He atoms, upon collisions
with the electrons, are excited to various states. Among these states are the metastable 23 S1 ( = 19.5 ms)
and 21 S0 ( = 104 s) states [4]. These states are nearly resonant with the 2p5 4s1 and 2p5 5s1 excited states
32nd Physics Congress of the Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas
University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City
23 - 25 October 2014
c SPP

1

Table 1: Laser transitions of a HeNe laser in the visible region [6]

Transition
Wavelength (nm)
5
1
2p 5s
3s2 2p1
730.5
2p5 5s1 3s2 2p2
640.1
2p5 5s1 3s2 2p3
635.2
2p5 5s1 3s2 2p4
632.8
2p5 5s1 3s2 2p5
629.4
2p5 5s1 3s2 2p6
611.8
2p5 5s1 3s2 2p7
604.6
2p5 5s1 3s2 2p8
593.9
2p5 5s1 3s2 2p10
543.4
of Ne, respectively. Energy is allowed to transfer by collision from the 23 S1 state of He to the 2p5 4s1 state
of Ne and from the 21 S0 state of He to the 2p5 5s1 state of Ne. Since the excited states of He are metastable
states, population inversion is ensured. Laser transition occurs with the decay of the 2p5 4s1 and 2p5 5s1
levels of Ne to 2p5 3p1 and 2p5 4p1 levels [2,3,5]. Table 1 shows different laser transitions of a HeNe laser
within the visible region and their corresponding emission wavelength.
Conventionally, construction of HeNe lasers have been conducted by mixing He and Ne gases before electrical pumping. In this work, pre-excited He was mixed with ground state Ne in an attempt to demonstrate
the transfer of energy from He to Ne through collisions between excited He and ground state Ne. This
study would provide further insights in the lasing mechanism of a HeNe laser and may be extended to a
classroom-level experiment tackling the energy transfer between He and Ne in the operation of a HeNe laser.

2.

Experimental Details

The schematic diagram of the experimental is shown in Figure 2a. It consists of an L-shaped tube as
shown in Figure 2b. He (99.9999% purity) and Ne (99.9999% purity) gases are introduced to the system
through end 1 and end 2, respectively. A rotary pump is connected to end 3 to pump the gas out of the
tube. A vacuum gauge was used to monitor the pressure of the gas. The gas discharge was excited by an
SRS PS 325 high-voltage DC power supply connected to an 80k resistance to limit the current. The light
emission at the negative glow region of the discharge was collected with a fiber bundle connected to Ocean
Optics HR2000+ES spectrometer with a resolution of 1.33 nm.

Figure 2: Schematic diagram of the experimental setup.

Emission measurements of pure He gas were obtained through the fiber bundle that was probed at the
negative glow region of discharge tube A. Likewise, discharge tube B was used to obtain emission measurements for pure Ne gas. Emission measurements for the pre-excited He and Ne mixture were conducted by
supplying voltage through discharge tube A and probing the fiber bundle at discharge tube B.
32nd Physics Congress of the Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas
University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City
23 - 25 October 2014
c SPP

2

3.

Results and Discussion

Figure 3: Emission spectra of (a) pure He glow discharge at V = 1250 V and (b) pure Ne glow discharge at
V = 1100 V.
Figure 3 shows the emission spectra of pure He and pure Ne which were probed on the negative glow
region of the discharge. Ten He (I) peaks were observed for the pure He emission. Of these peaks, three
emission wavelengths correspond to the metastable level of He used for energy transfer in HeNe lasers: 357.89
nm (3 S), 393.85 nm (1 S), and 706.08 nm (3 S). For the pure Ne emission spectra, sixteen Ne (I) emission
peaks were observed, five of which correspond to the emission from the 2p5 5s1 excited state of Ne. These
five emission wavelengths are 593.39 nm, 606.60 nm, 632.50 nm, 639.30 nm and 659.22 nm.

Figure 4: Emission spectrum of pre-excited He and unexcited Ne at V = 1250 V.

Figure 4 shows the emission spectrum when pre-excited He is mixed with unexcited Ne. Emission from
both He (I) and Ne (I) were observed. The presence of Ne (I) in the spectrum showed that the injected Ne
gas in the system was excited either by the accelerated free electrons in the discharge tube or from energy
32nd Physics Congress of the Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas
University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City
23 - 25 October 2014
c SPP

3

transfer from the excitation of He.

The presence of 2p5 5s1 emission in the spectrum for pure Ne showed that excitation to this level is
still possible from the direct electron-Ne collision. But this excitation is not dominant as seen in the lower
intensities in these wavelengths. With the introduction of excited He in the gas system, the energy from the
23 S1 and 21 S0 level of He is transferred to the 2p5 5s1 level of Ne through collisions. This energy transfer
is evident with the increase in intensity of the 2p5 5s1 emission wavelengths of Ne in the HeNe mixture, and
with the decrease in intensity of the 23 S1 and 21 S0 emission wavelengths of He in the HeNe mixture. The
transfer of energy can be symbolically written as:
He + N e He + N e E

(1)

where E is the energy defect due to the excited levels of He and Ne not being precisely resonant [6].

4.

Conclusion

Emission spectroscopy was used in demonstrating the collisional energy transfer from He to Ne in the
discharge from a mixture of pre-excited He and Ne. Perpendicularly oriented discharge tube was used to
allow pre-excitation of He before mixing with unexcited Ne. Increase in the line intensity of 2p5 5s1 level of
Ne and decreased line intensity of 23 S1 and 21 S0 levels of He in the HeNe mixture showed transfer of energy
through collisions allowing the lasing energy levels of Ne to populate.

References
[1] J. Hollas, Modern Spectroscopy. West Sussex, England: John Wiley Sons, Ltd, fourth edition ed., 2004.
[2] P. Milonni and J. Eberly, Lasers. USA: John Wiley Sons, Ltd, 1988.
[3] O. Svelto, Principles of Lasers. New York, USA: Plenum Press, fourth edition ed., 1998.
[4] R. V. Dyck, C. Johnson, and H. Shugart, Radiative Lifetime of the 21 So Metastable State of Helium,
Physicsal Review A, vol. 4, no. 4, pp. 13271336, 1971.
[5] A. Siegman, Lasers. USA: University Science Books, 1986.
[6] J. Verdeyen, Laser Electronics. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., third edition ed., 1995.

32nd Physics Congress of the Samahang Pisika ng Pilipinas

University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City
23 - 25 October 2014
c SPP

4