Precise atomic radiative lifetime via photoassociative spectroscopy of ultracold lithium

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1995
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American Physical Society
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We have obtained spectra of the high-lying vibrational levels of the 13Σ+g state of Li26 via photoassociation of ultracold Li6 atoms confined in a magneto-optical trap. The 13Σ+g state of the diatomic molecule correlates to a 2S1/2 state atom plus a 2P1/2 state atom. The long-range part of the molecular interaction potential for this state depends on the 2P atomic radiative lifetime. By calculating the energy eigenvalues of a model potential for the 13Σ+g state and fitting them to the experimentally measured vibrational levels, we have extracted a value for the 2P lifetime of 26.99±0.16 ns. The precision is currently limited by the accuracy of a region of the model potential provided by ab initio calculations.

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McAlexander, W.I., Abraham, E.R.I., Ritchie, N.W.M., et al.. "Precise atomic radiative lifetime via photoassociative spectroscopy of ultracold lithium." Physical Review A, 51, no. 2 (1995) American Physical Society: R871-R874. http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.51.R871.

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