Lifetime measurements in Tl III and the determination of the ground-state dipole polarizabilities for Au I–Bi V

Abstract

Measurements are reported for the lifetimes of the $6p{}^{2}{P}_{1/2,3/2},$ $6d{}^{2}{D}_{3/2,5/2},$ $7s{}^{2}{S}_{1/2},$ $7p{}^{2}{P}_{1/2,3/2},$ $7d{}^{2}{D}_{5/2},$ and $5f{}^{2}{F}_{5/2,7/2}$ levels in Tl III, made using beam-foil excitation. Theoretical calculations are also presented to elucidate conditions of configuration interaction exhibited by the measurements. In addition, values for the measured $6p$ lifetimes in the Au sequence are combined with theoretical calculations of resonance transitions to higher levels to specify the ground-state dipole polarizabilities for Au I, Hg II, Tl III, Pb IV, and Bi V.