6533b85dfe1ef96bd12bdcd5
RESEARCH PRODUCT
Ion storage technique for very long living states: The decay rate of the 5D 3/2 state of Ba II
R. SchneiderGünter Werthsubject
PhysicsNuclear and High Energy Physicseducation.field_of_studyExcited stateMetastabilityBuffer gasPopulationQuadrupoleAtomic physicsGround stateeducationTunable laserIondescription
The metastable 5D 3/2 state of Ba+ is used to demonstrate the possibility of the ion storage technique for the measurement of extremely long lived states. The ions are confined in a r.f. quadrupole trap and excited by a strong pulsed tunable dye laser to the 6P 1/2 state which partially decays into the 5D 3/2 state. Sampling of the time development of the ground state population leads to the determination of the 5D 3/2 decay rate. Using He as a buffer gas at a pressure of about 10−6 mbar to initially store the ions, varying the gas density and extrapolating to zero pressure, we find for the lifetime $$\tau _{D_{3/2} } = 17.5 \pm 4s$$ .
year | journal | country | edition | language |
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1979-06-01 | Zeitschrift für Physik A Atoms and Nuclei |