Electron Impact Induced VUV Emissions from Nitrous Oxide*

Emissions in the VUV have been probed for transitions from various excited electronic states (e.g., N$^{\ast}$ (3s $^{4}$P)) resulting from electron impact of nitrous oxide (N$_{2}$O). The experimental setup consists of a 0.2m spectrometer and an electron collision chamber. The electron beam (with energy spread of $\sim$1eV) was magnetically collimated with an axially symmetric magnetic field and accelerated to a given kinetic energy. A Faraday cup was used to monitor the beam current and to eliminate any back-scattered electrons. Photons emitted by electron impact excited target molecules and excited atoms following dissociative excitation, were dispersed by the spectrometer and detected with a channel electron multiplier coated with CsI. Measured emission spectra and emission cross sections as functions of incident energy will be presented.