Magnetic Resonance of Some Optically Oriented Excited Ions of Zn and Cd

Abstract

Using the strong spin dependence of large cross-section Penning reactions between $\mathrm{He}\left({}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}S_1^{}{}_{}{}^{}\right)$ atoms and group-II metal atoms, it is shown that optical pumping can be extended to the excited states of ions. Magnetic resonance is observed for ${\mathrm{Cd}}^{+}$ $5{}_{}{}^2{}_{}{}^{}D_{\frac{5}{2}}^{}{}_{}{}^{}$ and ${\mathrm{Zn}}^{+}$ $4{}_{}{}^2{}_{}{}^{}D_{\frac{3}{2}}^{}{}_{}{}^{}$ and $4{}_{}{}^2{}_{}{}^{}D_{\frac{5}{2}}^{}{}_{}{}^{}$ excited ion levels. The measured lifetimes of these levels are 0.773 ± 0.027, 2.22 ± 0.11, and 1.61 ± 0.10 μsec, respectively.