Lifetime measurement of excited atomic and ionic

states of some noble gases using the high-frequency

deflection technique

M B DAS¹ and S KARMAKAR²

¹Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, 1/AF, Bidhannagar, Kolkata 700 064, India

²Department of Physics, Kandi Raj College, Kandi, Murshidabad 742 137, India

E-mail: mbd@niss.saha.ernet.in; mbdas2000in@yahoo.com

Abstract. High-frequency deflection (HFD) technique with a

delayed coincidence single photon counting arrangement is an

efficient technique for radiative lifetime measurement. An

apparatus for measurement of the radiative lifetime of atoms

and molecules has been developed in our laboratory and

measurements have been performed with great success in a

large number of atoms and ions. The present version of the

apparatus is described in this paper together with a brief

description of the basic features and performance.

Keywords. Radiative decay; beam sweeping system; single

photon detection.

PACS Nos 32.70.Cs; 34.50.Fa