Determination of Atomic Lifetime by the Laser-Induced Fluorescence Method-Application to Neon 2p⁵3p Levels

Abstract

A procedure to measure atomic lifetimes is proposed for the method of observing the decay of the atomic fluorescence following pulsed-laser excitation. This method is superior to others in that it is free from the cascading effect. Several effects taken into account are (1) radiation trapping, (2) polarization and anisotropy of the fluorescence and their decay, and (3) de-population and re-population collisions. Especially effect (2) is important since the observed fluorescence intensity is, in general, not directly proportional to the upper-level population. For each effect a method of correction to the experimental data is established. As an example lifetimes of the neon 2pj levels are determined. Excellent agreement is obtained between the present data and those by the delayed coincidence method by Bennett and Kindlmann.