The study of autoionizing states of lutetium atoms by resonance ionization spectroscopy

Abstract

The authors describe the investigation of the autoionizing states of lutetium atoms by exciting the states 2D3/2o, 2D5/2o, 4D3/2o and 4D5/2o with tunable dye lasers by means of a resonance ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Twenty eight autoionizing transitions were measured and 12 autoionizing states were found. Their Shore-Fano profile parameters were determined by a nonlinear fitting program. The ionization probability for different schemes and some ionization cross sections were compared. On the basis of this, the authors have given the optimal schemes of lutetium atom photoionization through autoionizing states. In addition, the relation between ion signal and the laser pulse energy was discussed.