QUENCHING OF RYDBERG STATES BY ATOMS WITH SMALL ELECTRON AFFINITIES Ilya I. Fabrikant Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE, USA We calculate cross sections for quenching of Rydberg states by a ground-state atom as a function of the principal quantum number and find that this process is very sensitive to the electron affinity of the ground-state atom if the quantum defect of the Rydberg state is substantial.