Electron-impact excitation cross sections of the higher argon ${3p}^5\mathrm{np}$ $\mathrm{}(n=5,6,7\mathrm{})\mathrm{}$ levels

We have measured the electron-impact excitation cross sections for argon into the ten levels of ${3p}^{5}5p$ configuration, as well as numerous levels of the ${3p}^{5}6p$ and ${3p}^{5}7p$ configurations. Fluorescence from the decay of the excited atoms to the levels of ${3p}^{5}4s$ configuration was used to determine the optical-emission cross sections. These results were combined with transition probabilities to find apparent cross sections into the ${3p}^{5}5p$ and ${3p}^{5}6p$ levels. These new cross sections of the $\mathrm{Ar}{(3p}^{5}np)$ levels along with the available $\mathrm{Ne}{(2p}^{5}3p),$ $\mathrm{Kr}{(4p}^{5}5p),$ and $\mathrm{Xe}{(5p}^{5}6p)$ data help provide a global view of the excitation behaviors of the ${\mathrm{np}}^5{n}^{\prime }p$ levels of the rare-gas series.