Fluorescence of Mercury Vapour under Low Excitation

Abstract

IT has, I believe, been generally supposed that the green band fluorescence of mercury vapour cannot be excited by optical frequencies much less than that of the mercury resonance line. Houtermans, working in Franck's laboratory, has put forward the view that this green fluorescence results from the excitation of the molecule to the 2³P₁ state, differing but little in energy from the corresponding state of the atom.