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Ion storage technique for very long living states: The decay rate of the 5D 3/2 state of Ba II

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Zeitschrift für Physik A Atoms and Nuclei

Abstract

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\(\tau _{D_{3/2} } = 17.5 \pm 4s\).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Physik, Universität Mainz, Mainz, Federal Republic of Germany

    R. Schneider & G. Werth

Authors
  1. R. Schneider
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  2. G. Werth
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Additional information

We thank Prof. G. Gräff for his interest and encouragement. The help of Mr. R. Blatt at an early stage of the experiment, of Mr. H. Schaaf in handling the laser and of Mr. U. Schmeling for his constant and efficient support during the measurements is highly appreciated. This work was financially supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

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Schneider, R., Werth, G. Ion storage technique for very long living states: The decay rate of the 5D 3/2 state of Ba II. Z Physik A 293, 103–106 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01559751

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01559751

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