Lifetime of the metastable 2P1/2 state of F-like Ar9+ isolated in a compact Penning trap

Published

September 6, 2018

Author(s)

Samuel M. Brewer, Joan M. Dreiling, Nicholas D. Guise, Shannon M. Hoogerheide, Aung Naing, Joseph N. Tan

Abstract

Multiple-ionized atoms can be captured at low energy in a compact Penning trap, allowing the isolation of a single charge state to measure the radiative lifetime of an atomic state that decays via weakly allowed transitions. Such a measurement is reported here for the radiative decay lifetime of the metastable ²P_1/2 state in flourine-like Ar⁹⁺ wherein the n = 2 shell has only one vacancy (hole) in a 2p orbital. Highly-ionized atoms are extracted from an electron beam ion trap (EBIT) and guided into the ion capture apparatus. Upon capturing the Ar⁹⁺ ions, light from the magnetic-dipole (M1) transitions are detected with a photomultiplier tube (PMT) and counted with a multichannel scaler. Using this technique, the radiative lifetime of the metastable ²P_1/2 state in Ar⁹⁺ 1s² 2s² 2p⁵ is measured to be Tau = 9.39 +/- 0.09 ms, with a 1% relative uncertainty.

Citation

Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics)

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

ion trapping, lifetimes, oscillator strengths, positive-ion beams, transition moments

Citation

Brewer, S. , Dreiling, J. , Guise, N. , Hoogerheide, S. , Naing, A. and Tan, J. (2018), Lifetime of the metastable ²P_1/2 state of F-like Ar⁹⁺ isolated in a compact Penning trap, Physical Review A (Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics), [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=924512 (Accessed October 16, 2025)