Evolution of beam-foil-excited Rydberg states on femtosecond time scales.

Journal Article · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 2000 · Phys. Rev. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.61.042708· OSTI ID:942641

Kanter, E P; Dunford, R W; Gemmell, D S; Jung, M; LeBrun, T; Rehm, K E; Young, L

Traditional beam-foil methods for measuring lifetimes of low-lying atomic levels are generally impractical beyond Z-35 because of the correspondingly shorter flight times when lifetimes become less than a few tens of picoseconds. We recently reported the results of an experiment using a novel two-foil method to measure the 9.5-psec lifetime of the 2 {sup 3}P{sub 2} level in helium-like krypton. We describe here the results of an extension of that work in which we measured the time evolution of the N>{approx}2 excited state population between the foils by observing the dependence upon foil separation of the charge-state distributions emerging from the second foil. The results are consistent with the well-known power-law dependence of Rydberg-fed atomic transitions observed in beam-foil studies, but probe a much shorter time scale than has hitherto been accessible.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL)
• Sponsoring Organization: SC
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 942641
• Report Number(s): ANL/CHM/JA-33352
• Journal Information: Phys. Rev. A, Journal Name: Phys. Rev. A Journal Issue: 042708 ; 2000 Vol. 61; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: ENGLISH

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
EXCITED STATES
FOILS
KRYPTON
LIFETIME
MEASURING METHODS
RYDBERG STATES