Pressure broadening of the Li 2s–3d transition by Ne and Ar

Abstract

We report measurements of the foreign gas line broadening rate for the 2s–3d transition in 6Li and 7Li with the rare gas perturbers neon and argon. We compare our measurements with calculations made in the impact approximation using both ab initio diatomic potentials and long-range coefficients. Agreement is in all cases better than 30%. As in our previous study of Li 2s–3s broadening, we find that the available potentials do not agree well at intermediate range. Improved agreement will likely require improved potentials as well as a more sophisticated model.