ABSTRACT
A laser probing investigation has yielded the lifetimes of the 3s(2)3p(4)(1D)3d (2)G(7/2,9/2) metastable doublet states of Ar+. The results, obtained with the CRYRING ion storage ring of Stockholm, are 3.0+/-0.4 and 2.1+/-0.1 s, respectively. Comparisons with theoretical values calculated with two independent theoretical approaches, i.e., the pseudorelativistic Hartree-Fock method and the multiconfiguration Breit-Pauli approach, have allowed us to establish the unexpected and extraordinary strong contribution of an electric octupole (E3) transition to the ground state, in addition to the M1 decay channels to the 3d ;{2,4}F states and the E2 contributions to the 4s 2P, 2D states.
ABSTRACT
An experimental investigation of the radiative lifetime of the metastable 4s24p4(3P)4d4D7/2 level in Kr II shows an unusual situation regarding the importance of an M2 depopulation channel. While the first order M1 and E2 channels are expected to contribute in a dominant way to the decay, the experimental result, obtained using a laser probing technique on a stored ion beam, tau = 0.57+/-0.03 s, is far too short to be due to these channels according to our relativistic multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock calculation. Only if second order contributions to the decay branches (including essentially the M2 contribution) are taken into account in the calculations could the unexpected short lifetime be explained.
ABSTRACT
Radiative lifetimes have been measured for two excited levels of Ce IV using the time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence technique. Ce3+ ions were produced in a laser-induced plasma. In the measurements, a suitable magnetic field was applied to reduce the recombination between electrons and the ions and thus the background light from the recombination, and special care was exercised to avoid flight-out-of-view effects on the lifetime measurements for the high-velocity ions. The experimental lifetime results, tau = 30(2) ns for the level 49 737 cm(-1) and tau = 30(3) ns for the level 52 226 cm(-1), were compared with relativistic Hartree-Fock calculations (tau = 30.5 and 30.0 ns) indicating a particularly excellent agreement.
