Dielectric barrier discharge in a low-pressure He–Ne mixture. Afterglow spectroscopy of $2p^55s\to 2p^53p$ transitions

The results of a spectroscopic study and simulation of the processes of population and destruction of the levels of the $2p^55s$ configuration of a neon atom in a decaying plasma of a low-frequency barrier discharge in a He-Ne mixture are presented. Experimental conditions: helium pressure 0.08–22 Torr, neon pressure $\le$ 3 mTorr, electron density less than 10$^{11}$ cm$^{-3}$. On the basis of data on the evolution of the populations of the 3$s_i$ levels (in Paschen's notation) with a change in helium pressure, data on the rate constants of collisional processes that determine the kinetics of these levels in He-Ne plasma are obtained more accurate than those available in the literature.