Lifetime measurements for excited states of rare-earth atoms using pulse modulation of a cw dye-laser beam

Abstract

By pulse-modulating a cw dye-laser beam and employing the delayed-coincidence technique, we have determined the natural radiative lifetimes of a number of atomic states in rare-earth atoms Eu, Dy, and Yb. In the measurements, which were performed on an atomic beam, exponential decay curves with good statistics were obtained using short measuring times. The general features of the technique are discussed. When possible, oscillator strengths are deduced and compared with literature values.