Laser measurements of static and dynamic dipole polarizability for 11 metal atoms using fast exploding wires in vacuum and integrated-phase technique

Abstract

The rapid electrical explosion of thin metal wires in a vacuum can completely vaporize the wire and form a fast-expanding gas cylinder of metal atoms. Thin metal wires 12.7 μm in diameter made of W, Mo, Pt, Pd, Ni, Cu, Au, and Al completely evaporated during the first ∼10 ns under the action of a fast-rising current of ∼1 kA/ns. Laser interferometry and the integrated phase technique were used to reconstruct the dynamic atomic polarizability for fully vaporized thin metal wires at 532 and 1064 nm wavelength, calculate the static atomic polarizability, the first dipole-allowed electronic transition energy, and transition wavelengths, and compare our reconstructions with available tabulated values.