Acta Physica Polonica A
Lifetime and Collisional Depopulation Cross Section for the 142D3/2State of Rb
B. Bieniak, Małgorzata Głódź, P. Grzegorzewski, Jerzy Szonert
Abstract
The lifetime r and the cross section a for depopulation induced by collisions with ground-state Rb atoms were measured for the 14 2D3 / 2 state of Rb.The experiment was performed in the gas-cell conditions in a range of Rb vapour temperatures in the vicinity of 340 K.The lifetime value r = 1970(130) ns, agrees with the theoretical prediction with allowance for the influence of blackbody radiation as well as of the effects due to core polarizability and spin-orbit interaction.The measured cross section Q = 6.5(3.1)x 10 -12 cm2 is close to the geometrical cross section.This agrees with similar observations made by other authors for the case of the lower n 2D states of Rb.