Impact of buffer gas quenching on the 1S0 → 1P1 ground-state atomic transition in nobelium

• Published in: The European physical journal. D, Atomic, molecular, and optical physics Vol. 71; no. 7; pp. 1 - 7
• Main Authors: Chhetri, Premaditya, Ackermann, Dieter, Backe, Hartmut, Block, Michael, Cheal, Bradley, Düllmann, Christoph Emanuel, Even, Julia, Ferrer, Rafael, Giacoppo, Francesca, Götz, Stefan, Heßberger, Fritz Peter, Kaleja, Oliver, Khuyagbaatar, Jadambaa, Kunz, Peter, Laatiaoui, Mustapha, Lautenschläger, Felix, Lauth, Werner, Ramirez, Enrique Minaya, Mistry, Andrew Kishor, Raeder, Sebastian, Wraith, Calvin, Walther, Thomas, Yakushev, Alexander
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2017; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applications of Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos Theory; Atomic; Atomic properties; Buffers; Excitation; Gas quenching; Homology; Ionization; Molecular; Nobelium; Optical and Plasma Physics; Optical transition; Physical Chemistry; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Quantum Information Technology; Quantum Physics; Quenching; Regular Article; Spectroscopic analysis; Spectroscopy/Spectrometry; Spectrum analysis; Spintronics; Ytterbium; Atomic Physics
• ISSN: 1434-6060; 1434-6079
• DOI: 10.1140/epjd/e2017-80122-x

Using the sensitive Radiation Detected Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (RADRIS) technique an optical transition in neutral nobelium (No, Z = 102) was identified. A remnant signal when delaying the ionizing laser indicated the influence of a strong buffer gas induced de-excitation of the optically populated level. A subsequent investigation of the chemical homologue, ytterbium (Yb, Z = 70), enabled a detailed study of the atomic levels involved in this process, leading to the development of a rate equation model. This paves the way for characterizing resonance ionization spectroscopy (RIS) schemes used in the study of nobelium and beyond, where atomic properties are currently unknown. Graphical abstract