Precision measurement of the lifetime of the7S13state of atomic mercury

Abstract

We report the first observation of the atomic cascade $9{}_{}{}^1{}_{}{}^{}P_1^{}{}_{}{}^{}-7{}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}S_1^{}{}_{}{}^{}-6{}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}P_1^{}{}_{}{}^{}$ in mercury. The exponential distribution of time delays between detection of the $9{}_{}{}^1{}_{}{}^{}P_1^{}{}_{}{}^{}-7{}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}S_1^{}{}_{}{}^{}$ (5676-Å) photon and the $7{}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}S_1^{}{}_{}{}^{}-6{}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}P_1^{}{}_{}{}^{}$ (4358-Å) photon was measured, and a value of 8.2(0.2) nsec was obtained for the mean lifetime of the $7{}_{}{}^3{}_{}{}^{}S_1^{}{}_{}{}^{}$ level.