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Journal of the Optical Society of America

Lifetimes of levels in neutral strontium (Sr i)*

H. J. Andrä, H. -J. Plöhn, W. Wittmann, Andreas Gaupp, John O. Stoner, Michel Louis Gaillard

Published Dec 1, 1975• 26 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have measured mean lives of five levels in three different configurations in Sr i by exciting them selectively in fast beams of neutralized ions by light from an argon-ion laser, and following their time-resolved decay downstream. The mean lives of these levels are 5s5d3D3, 16.29 ± 0.24 ns; 5s5d3D2, 16.34 ± 0.13 ns; 5s5d3D1, 16.49 ± 0.10 ns; 5p2 3P2, 7.89 ± 0.05 ns; and 5s4f F13°, 34.2 ± 0.4 ns.

DOI
10.1364/josa.65.001410

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Electronically excited strontium atoms in the low-lying 5s5p(3PJ) state, 1.8 eV above the 5 s2(1S0) ground state, have been studied in the time-resolved mode by recording the forbidden emission at λ= 689.3 nm [Sr(53P1)→ Sr(51S0)+hν]. Sr(53P1) was generated by the repetitive pulsed dye-laser excitation of ground-state strontium atoms, in equilibrium with the solid at elevated temperatures, in a slow-flow system kinetically equivalent to a static system. The resulting resonance fluorescence at λ= 689.3 nm, following rapid Boltzmann equilibration within the 53PJ spin-orbit manifold, was then monitored by means of boxcar integration. Particular consideration was given to the development of a pre-trigger photomultiplier gating system which permitted decay measurements necessarily to be made on time scales considerably shorter than achieved hitherto with this type of investigation. Measurement of the fluorescence decays in the noble gases and across a range of atomic strontium concentration revealed significant effects due to radiation trapping. Extrapolation of the decay data to [Sr(51S0)]= 0 yielded the mean radiative lifetime τe= 20.1 ± 0.4 µs for the λ= 689.3 nm transition. This is compared with the range of values reported previously. The following upper limits are reported for the collisional-quenching constants of Sr(53PJ) by the noble gases (kQ/cm3 atom–1 s–1, T= 950 K): He, <5.5 × 10–15; Ne, <3.5 × 10–15; Ar, <3.9 × 10–15; Kr, <5.5 × 10–15 and Xe, <3.1 × 10–15, which are compared with data derived from the phase-shift technique. A limit is also reported of the rate constant for quenching of Sr(53PJ) by Sr(51S0) of <2 × 10–13 cm3 atom–1 s–1(T= 850–1000 K). The quenching of Sr(53PJ) by H2 and D2 is studied in detail, yielding the following results: kH2= 3.7 ± 0.4 × 10–12 cm3 molecule–1 s–1(950 K, 1 σ), kD2= 3.0 ± 0.2 × 10–12 cm3 molecule–1 s–1(950 K, 1 σ). The results for these two isotopes are compared with analogous data reported from other measurements for Ca(43PJ) and Mg(33PJ).

Journal of the Chemical Society Faraday Transactions 2 Molecular and Chemical Physics•Jan 1, 1984•20 citations
We have measured mean lives of five levels in three different configurations in Sr i by exciting them selectively in fast beams of neutralized ions by light from an argon-ion laser, and following their time-resolved decay downstream. The mean lives of these levels are 5s5d3D3, 16.29 ± 0.24 ns; 5s5d3D2, 16.34 ± 0.13 ns; 5s5d3D1, 16.49 ± 0.10 ns; 5p2 3P2, 7.89 ± 0.05 ns; and 5s4f F13°, 34.2 ± 0.4 ns.
We provide a detailed description of our fast-beam laser lifetime measurements in atomic cesium. Selective excitation of the neutral 133Cs{}^{133}\mathrm{Cs}133Cs 6p2P1/26p{}^{2}{P}_{1/2}6p2P1/2​ and 6p2P3/26p{}^{2}{P}_{3/2}6p2P3/2​ states is accomplished with resonant diode laser light directed transversely to the atomic velocity. The in-flight decay of the excited-state fluorescence is observed with a position-correlated single photon-counting detector. The Doppler-shifted 6p2P3/26p{}^{2}{P}_{3/2}6p2P3/2​ resonance, when probed with longitudinally propagating laser radiation, provides a precise means for determination of the beam velocity, and converts the position scale to a time scale. Our lifetime results are $35.07\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.10 \mathrm{ns}$ for the 6p2P1/26p{}^{2}{P}_{1/2}6p2P1/2​ state and $30.57\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.07 \mathrm{ns}$ for the 6p2P3/26p{}^{2}{P}_{3/2}6p2P3/2​ state. These results represent a data set larger than in our previous work, and include beam divergence corrections which have been evaluated by two different methods. We present comparisons of our results with previous measurements and with relativistic many-body calculations of atomic transition matrix elements in this neutral alkali system.
We present a direct lifetime measurement of the 5s5p1P15s5p{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{1}{P}_{1}5s5p1P1​ state of strontium using time-correlated single-photon counting of laser-induced fluorescence in a hot atomic beam. To achieve fast switch-off times and a high signal-to-noise ratio, we excite the strontium atoms with a femtosecond pulsed laser at approximately 461 nm and collect the fluorescence onto a hybrid single-photon detector. Analysis of the measured exponential decay gives a lifetime of the 1P1{}^{1}{P}_{1}1P1​ state of $\ensuremath{\tau}=(5.216\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.{006}_{\text{stat}}\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.{013}_{\text{sys}})$ ns, where all the systematic effects have been thoroughly considered.
Optical lattice clocks based on the narrow ( 5 s 2 ) S 0 1 − ( 5 s 5 p ) P 0 3 transition in neutral strontium (Sr) are among the most precise and accurate measurement devices in existence. Although this transition is completely forbidden by selection rules, state mixing from the hyperfine interaction in Sr 87 provides a weakly allowed transition that can be coherently driven with practical clock laser intensities. While the coherent interrogation times of optical clocks are typically set by the linewidth of the probe laser, this limitation can be overcome in synchronous differential comparisons between ensembles. In such measurements the natural lifetime of the S 0 1 – P 0 3 clock transition becomes the fundamental limiting factor to the duration of a single run of the experiment. However, a direct measurement of the decay rate of the clock excited state is quite challenging due to the competing effects of other loss channels such as Raman scattering, inelastic collisions, and atom loss due to background gas. In this work, we monitor the decay of Sr atoms trapped in an optical lattice and initialized in the P 0 3 state. By making measurements of high and low density ensembles of both Sr 87 and Sr 88 across varying lattice trap depths, we isolate radiative decay, which accounts for a significant fraction of the observed decays at low depths. We obtain a natural radiative decay lifetime of 167 − 40 + 79 s for the P 0 3 clock state in Sr 87 , a value that is consistent with previously reported measurements and theoretical predictions. We also introduce an additional measurement scheme that involves repeated measurements of the ground-state population within a single experimental sequence, validating our model and the consistency of the measured rates. We expect that the techniques introduced in this work are applicable to lifetime measurements of long-lived metastable states in other atoms and ions used for clocks and quantum computing. The results presented in this work inform performance estimates of proposed gravitational wave detectors and long-baseline atom interferometers making use of Sr 87 .
Electronically excited strontium atoms in the low-lying 5s5p(3PJ) state, 1.8 eV above the 5 s2(1S0) ground state, have been studied in the time-resolved mode by recording the forbidden emission at λ= 689.3 nm [Sr(53P1)→ Sr(51S0)+hν]. Sr(53P1) was generated by the repetitive pulsed dye-laser excitation of ground-state strontium atoms, in equilibrium with the solid at elevated temperatures, in a slow-flow system kinetically equivalent to a static system. The resulting resonance fluorescence at λ= 689.3 nm, following rapid Boltzmann equilibration within the 53PJ spin-orbit manifold, was then monitored by means of boxcar integration. Particular consideration was given to the development of a pre-trigger photomultiplier gating system which permitted decay measurements necessarily to be made on time scales considerably shorter than achieved hitherto with this type of investigation. Measurement of the fluorescence decays in the noble gases and across a range of atomic strontium concentration revealed significant effects due to radiation trapping. Extrapolation of the decay data to [Sr(51S0)]= 0 yielded the mean radiative lifetime τe= 20.1 ± 0.4 µs for the λ= 689.3 nm transition. This is compared with the range of values reported previously. The following upper limits are reported for the collisional-quenching constants of Sr(53PJ) by the noble gases (kQ/cm3 atom–1 s–1, T= 950 K): He, <5.5 × 10–15; Ne, <3.5 × 10–15; Ar, <3.9 × 10–15; Kr, <5.5 × 10–15 and Xe, <3.1 × 10–15, which are compared with data derived from the phase-shift technique. A limit is also reported of the rate constant for quenching of Sr(53PJ) by Sr(51S0) of <2 × 10–13 cm3 atom–1 s–1(T= 850–1000 K). The quenching of Sr(53PJ) by H2 and D2 is studied in detail, yielding the following results: kH2= 3.7 ± 0.4 × 10–12 cm3 molecule–1 s–1(950 K, 1 σ), kD2= 3.0 ± 0.2 × 10–12 cm3 molecule–1 s–1(950 K, 1 σ). The results for these two isotopes are compared with analogous data reported from other measurements for Ca(43PJ) and Mg(33PJ).