Radiative lifetimes and branching ratios for the 6²P⁰levels of gold

Abstract

Measurements have been made of the radiative lifetimes of the 62P32/0 and 62P12/0 levels of neutral gold and of the branching ratios of the five transitions originating from these levels. The lifetimes were determined by measuring the fluorescence decay following pulsed laser excitation of gold vapour produced by cathodic sputtering in a rare-gas discharge. The lifetime and branching ratio results are combined to derive absolute f values for the 2428 and 2676 AA principal resonance lines and also for the 3123, 5065 and 6278 AA lines. The new f value for the 3123 AA line is used together with the solar data of Ross and Aller (1972) to obtain a revised value of the gold solar abundance.