Studies of xenon atoms in high Rydberg states

Abstract

Thermal beams of xenon atoms in single high Rydberg states have been produced by photoexcitation of $\mathrm{Xe}\left({}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}P_0^{}{}_{}{}^{}\right)$ metastable atoms. The highly excited states which were populated in this way were identified as $\mathrm{np}{\left[\frac{1}{2}\right]}_1$ with $11\le n\le 16$ and $\mathrm{nf}{\left[\frac{3}{2}\right]}_1$ with $8\le n\le 40$. The field ionization characteristics and radiative lifetimes of these atoms have been studied.