6533b827fe1ef96bd1286443

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Lifetime of the metastable 6P 3/2 level of PbII

D. WilsdorfCh. GerzGünter WerthA. Roth

subject

QuenchingWavelengthPhotonMaterials sciencelawExcited stateMetastabilityAtomic physicsLaserIon trappingAtomic and Molecular Physics and OpticsIonlaw.invention

description

Pb+-ions were stored in a r.f.-quadrupole trap. Short laser pulses at a 710-nm M1-transition excited the ions to the metastable 6P 3/2 level. Time-resolved registration of the subsequent decay photons at the same wavelength directly gives the lifetime of that state. No dependence of the decay rate on the density of different buffer gases up to 10−5 mbar pressure was observed and from this we deduced upper limits to the quenching cross section. We have observed, however, a small dependence on the stored ion number. The final result for the lifetime is 41.2 ± 0.7 ms in agreement with the result of a previous calculation.

https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01438500