Absolute cross sections and branching ratios for the radiative decay of doubly excited helium determined by photon-induced fluorescence spectroscopy

Abstract

The decay of doubly excited helium states below the N = 2 threshold, cascading radiatively over three steps, were investigated using the photon-induced fluorescence spectroscopy (PIFS) at BESSY II. Absolute cross sections as the product of the resonance excitation cross section of the doubly excited states and their fluorescence rate to decay into the singly excited 1sms(1S) and 1smd(1D) states were measured. The experiments showed that the (sp,2n+)(1P) states decay predominantly into the 1sns(1S) states, whereas the (pd,2n)(1P) states prefer to decay into the 1snd(1D) states. For the (sp,2n−)(1P) states with n = 4, 5 and 6 we observed a broad and complex decay pattern. In addition the angular distribution of the fluorescence radiation was measured. The results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions. Furthermore, the weakening of the LS coupling scheme and the mixing between singlet and triplet states in helium was confirmed by observation of the 1s6d(3D0,1,2) → 1s2p(3P0,1,2) transition on a doubly excited singlet state.