Physical Review
Hanle Effect in 2P1 Helium
Edward S. Fry, W. Williams
Abstract
The oscillator strength for the resonance ($1^{1}S\ensuremath{-}2^{1}P$) transition in atomic helium has been determined from a measurement of the lifetime of the $2^{1}P$ state. This lifetime was obtained using a modified zero-field level crossing (Hanle) method. The scattering sample was a thermal velocity beam of $2^{1}S$ metastable atoms. Resonant 2-\ensuremath{\mu} ($2^{1}S\ensuremath{-}2^{1}P$) radiation is absorbed by the $2^{1}S$ atoms, which are excited to the $2^{1}P$ state. This state then primarily decays to the ground $1^{1}S$ state with the emission of resonance (584 \AA{}) radiation. The lifetime of the $2^{1}P$ state was determined from measurements of the magnetic-field dependence of the angular distribution of the 584 \AA{} intensity. This new technique eliminates the problem of constructing a vacuum ultraviolet resonance lamp. The measured lifetime $\ensuremath{\tau} (2^{1}P)$ is (5.63 \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{} 0.22) \ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{} ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}10}$ sec. The resulting absorption oscillator strength for the resonance transition is 0.273 \ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{} 0.011. This oscillator strength agrees with the theoretical value.