Selective and non-selective excitation / ionization processes in analytical glow discharges

What is it about?

Detailed insight into the selective and non-selective processes in glow discharge is given, to help in understanding these processes and improving analytical results (Those processes which only affect an energy level range ~ 0.5 eV are referred to in this paper as selective processes, while others are described as non-selective).

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Why is it important?

- The metastable states of both the analyte and plasma gas play an important role in Penning ionization, Penning excitation, and Asymmetric Charge Transfer processes in the discharge. - It is suggested that the neutralization of these ionic states, Aro+ & Arm+, can increase the population of high lying atomic states and thence of argon metastable states. - The contribution of PE to selective excitation of certain ionic spectral lines can cause a major difference in the observed intensities.