Fast-beam laser lifetime measurements of the cesium 6p[sup 2]P[sub 1/2,3/2] states

Journal Article · Mon Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1999 · Physical Review A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.60.3648· OSTI ID:6072021

Rafac, R J; Tanner, C E; Livingston, A E; Berry, H G ^[1]

---

1. Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, 225 Nieuwland Science Hall, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556-5670 (United States)

We provide a detailed description of our fast-beam laser lifetime measurements in atomic cesium. Selective excitation of the neutral [sup 133]Cs 6p hthinsp;[sup 2]P[sub 1/2] and 6p hthinsp;[sup 2]P[sub 3/2] states is accomplished with resonant diode laser light directed transversely to the atomic velocity. The in-flight decay of the excited-state fluorescence is observed with a position-correlated single photon-counting detector. The Doppler-shifted 6p hthinsp;[sup 2]P[sub 3/2] resonance, when probed with longitudinally propagating laser radiation, provides a precise means for determination of the beam velocity, and converts the position scale to a time scale. Our lifetime results are 35.07[plus minus]0.10 ns for the 6p hthinsp;[sup 2]P[sub 1/2] state and 30.57[plus minus]0.07 ns for the 6p hthinsp;[sup 2]P[sub 3/2] state. These results represent a data set larger than in our previous work, and include beam divergence corrections which have been evaluated by two different methods. We present comparisons of our results with previous measurements and with relativistic many-body calculations of atomic transition matrix elements in this neutral alkali system. [copyright] [ital 1999] [ital The American Physical Society]

• OSTI ID: 6072021
• Journal Information: Physical Review A, Journal Name: Physical Review A Vol. 60:5; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

664200* -- Spectra of Atoms & Molecules & their Interactions with Photons-- (1992-)
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ATOM COLLISIONS
ATOMIC BEAMS
BEAMS
CESIUM 133
CESIUM ISOTOPES
COLLISIONS
DOPPLER EFFECT
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ENERGY LEVELS
ENERGY RANGE
ENERGY-LEVEL TRANSITIONS
EXCITATION
EXCITED STATES
FLUORESCENCE
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
LASER RADIATION
LIFETIME
LUMINESCENCE
MANY-BODY PROBLEM
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
P STATES
PHOTOLUMINESCENCE
PHOTON COLLISIONS
PHOTON-ATOM COLLISIONS
RADIATIONS
RELATIVISTIC RANGE
STABLE ISOTOPES