Nitrogen ions transition probabilities

Hoskins and Soffer (117) measured the fluorescent lifetime of the neodymium 4Fy2 state in yttrium oxide. They found a value of approximately 260 /zsec both at room temperature and at liquid-nitrogen temperature. They also observed a weaker long-lived component in the decay. They were unable to say whether this was evidence for a low-transition-probability ion site, or an effect of trapping of the resonance radiation near 0.9 /x. They report laser action, with a threshold of 260joules. This is a fairly high value for most crystalline materials. 

The addition stage, in which benzyne is consumed, may also involve two steps attachment of the amide ion (step 3) to form carbanion II, v/hich then reacts with an acid, ammonia, to abstract a hydrogen ion (step 4). It may be that step (3) and step (4) are concerted, and addition involves a single step if this is so, the transition state is probably one in which attachment of nitrogen has proceeded to a greater extent than attachment of hydrogen, so that it has considerable carbanion... 

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