OBSERVATION OF UV ENHANCED FLUORESCENCE DUE TO THE COMBINED EFFECTS OF SELECTIVE OPTICAL PUMPING AND COLLISIONAL TRANSFER.

The authors recently reported enhanced UV fluorescence at 2138 Angstrom due to selective optical pumping with 560 Angstrom EUV line radiation. In this work, measurements are described of the collisional transfer of the population from the optically pumped level to a higher angular momentum level. Enhanced fluorescence at 2993 Angstrom from this higher level was measured. These measurements are discussed in light of proposed soft X-ray laser schemes using such a pumping process.