McAlexander, W.I.Abraham, E.R.I.Ritchie, N.W.M.Williams, C.J.Stoof, H.T.C.Hulet, R.G.2015-03-302015-03-301995McAlexander, W.I., Abraham, E.R.I., Ritchie, N.W.M., et al.. "Precise atomic radiative lifetime via photoassociative spectroscopy of ultracold lithium." <i>Physical Review A,</i> 51, no. 2 (1995) American Physical Society: R871-R874. http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.51.R871.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/79410We 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.engArticle is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.Journal articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.51.R871