Radiative lifetimes of neutral neodymium

Abstract

This work is part of an on-going study of radiative properties of rare earth neutral atoms. This work is motivated by research needs in several disparate fields including astrophysics and lighting technology. Radiative lifetimes of 100 levels of neutral neodymium are measured using the technique of time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence on a slow atomic beam. Of the 100 levels, 3 are even parity ranging in energy from 25 746 to 26 835 cm−1, and the remaining 97 are odd parity ranging from 17 787 to 27 786 cm−1. This set of Nd i lifetimes represents a significant extension to the available published data, with 51 of the 100 level lifetimes measured for the first time. These data, which are accurate to ±5%, provide the absolute normalization for a large set of measured Nd i transition probabilities.