Experimental investigation of excited-state lifetimes in atomic ytterbium

Abstract

Lifetimes of 21 excited states in atomic Yb were measured using time-resolved fluorescence detection following pulsed laser excitation. The lifetime of the 4${\mathit{f}}^{14}$5d6${\mathit{s}}^{\mathrm{}3}$${\mathit{D}}_{1}$ state, which is of particular importance for a proposed study of parity nonconservation in atoms, was measured to be 380(30) ns. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.