3d

1999

We have measured the lifetime of the metastable 3D 5/2 level in Ca+ using the “quantum jump" technique on a single stored and laser cooled ion in a linear Paul trap. We found a linear dependence of the measured decay rate on the power of the laser which repumps the ions from the long lived 3D 3/2 level. This can be explained by off-resonant depletion of the 3D 5/2 level. The proper lifetime of this level is obtained by a linear extrapolation of the measured lifetime to zero laser power. We obtain 1100(18) ms in agreement with theoretical calculations. The observed systematic change of the decay rate resolves discrepancies between earlier experiments in which this effect had not been conside…