Energies and lifetimes of triply excited states of lithium

Abstract

Nine triply excited states of lithium are calculated with the saddle-point and saddle-point complex-rotation methods. Relativistic corrections are computed with first-order perturbation theory. The widths are studied with one open channel at a time as well as fully coupled open channels. Some coupled calculations include up to ten open channels. Radiative decays of the triply excited states are also computed. The predicted Auger branching ratios are in excellent agreement with experiment. An identification is found for a weak line in the observed Auger spectra. Our predicted 2s2s2p${\mathrm{}}^{2}$${\mathit{P}}^{\mathit{o}}$ width is substantially smaller than the experiment of Kiernan et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 2359 (1994)] but it agrees much better with the recent experiment of Kiernan et al. [J. Phys. B 28, L161 (1995)].