6533b7d9fe1ef96bd126d565

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Precise lifetime determination of the metastable 3d 2 D 5/2 level in Ca + by "electron shelving"

subject

description

Ca+ ions confined as a cloud in a Paul trap were excited and cooled by radiation from two lasers, tuned to the 4s2S1/2 − 4p2P1/2 and 4p2P1/2 − 3d2D3/2 transitions. The strong fluorescence of these lines disappears when we excite the ions simultaneously by a third laser on the 3d2D3/2 − 4p2P3/2 line because of population trapping in the metastable 3d2D5/2 state, into which the 4p2P3/2 level decays. From the time dependence of the fluorescence after blocking the third laser we determined the lifetime of the 3d2D5/2 level. Our result of τ = 1064(17) ms improves earlier results and agrees with the value recently computed by Liaw using the Brueckner approximation.