Collisional excitation and radiative properties of N II: the strong intercombination (1D-3P0) transition at 748 Å

Laboratory measurements of EUV emission from electron-excited N2 have been obtained at medium resolution, providing N II EUV emission cross section measurements and allowing the confirmation of recent calculations by Fawcett (1987) indicating the presence of a strong intercombination line in N II at 748.37 A. The most recently available data are used to predict the basic collisional and radiative properties of N II, the plasma diagnostic properties are briefly explored, and radiative cooling coefficients are given. Some basic properties of electron-excited N II and N2 are examined in the EUV in order to diagnose emission spectra of the earth and Titan. The N II emissions in the earth dayglow, particularly at 916 A, are much brighter than current estimates of source rates. The N II 1085 A line in the dayglow contains a significant component from dissociative photoionization excitation. The N II 1085 A, 916 A, and 670 A lines in the Titan dayglow spectrum appear to be compatible with direct electron excitation of N2. 61 refs.