Measurement of the electron affinity of the lanthanum atom

Abstract

Atomic lanthanum anion ${\mathrm{La}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ is the best candidate for laser cooling of any atomic anions found so far. The bound-bound electric dipole transitions of ${\mathrm{La}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ have been identified and measured. Theoretical studies have shown that ${\mathrm{La}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ has a very complicated electronic structure, which cannot be well resolved by the traditional photoelectron spectroscopy. In the present work, we report high-resolution photoelectron spectroscopy of ${\mathrm{La}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$ via the slow-electron velocity-map imaging method in combination with an ion trap. The electron affinity of La was determined to be $4496.97(20)\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ or 0.557 553(25) eV. In addition, the energy levels of ${\mathrm{La}}^{\ensuremath{-}}$, $^{3}F_{3}^{e}$, $^{3}F_{4}^{e}$, $^{1}D_{2}^{e}$, $^{1}D_{2}^{o}$, $^{3}P_{0}^{e}$, $^{3}P_{1}^{e}$, and $^{3}P_{2}^{e}$, were also determined.