Radiative lifetimes of Cd I and Cd II excited states

Abstract

Radiative lifetimes of 1 1 levels in Cd I belonging to the 5s5p 1po1 and 5snd 3D1,2(n=6-9) and 5sns 3S1 (n=7,8) series, and of 5 levels of Cd II belonging to the 4d105p 2po1/2,3/2, 4d106s 2S1/2, and 4d105d 2D3/2,5/2 configurations were measured using the time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence technique. Free neutral and singly ionized cadmium were generated by laser ablation. Single- or two-step excitation processes were used to populate the levels under study. Transition probabilities and oscillator strengths for Cd I and Cd II transitions were also deduced by combining the experimental lifetimes and theoretical branching fractions obtained in multiconfigurational relativistic Hartree-Fock calculations, taking core-polarisation effects into account.