Abstract
Collinear laser spectroscopy was performed on an atomic beam of stable Mn. An ion beam of Mn was generated in an ion source, accelerated to 15 keV, and neutralized via charge-exchange reactions with a Na vapor. A long-lived metastable state of Mn i, near-resonantly populated in the charge-exchange process, was investigated via laser probing in addition to a laser excitation from the ground state in Mn i. The relative population of the Mn i metastable state compared to that of the ground state was found to be . A theoretical calculation, which included feeding to the ground state and the metastable state from higher-energy excited electronic states populated in the charge-exchange process, agreed with the present result. The deduced and hyperfine coupling constants agreed with literature values, where available.
- Received 8 July 2013
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.88.042701
©2013 American Physical Society