Transition Probabilities for the 1815 and 3344 Å Forbidden Lines of Ne iii.

Abstract

We have measured the radiative lifetime of the 2s22p4 1S0 metastable level of Ne2+ (Ne iii) to be 223+/-11 ms at the 90% confidence level by observing the photons emitted at 1815 Å by a decaying population of 1S0 Ne2+ ions produced and stored in a radio-frequency ion trap. This is the first lifetime measurement for an excited term of a ground configuration ion in the second row of the periodic table. The transition probabilities (A-values) for the forbidden transitions in the ground configurations of these ions are required for astrophysical line-ratio diagnostics. Using calculated branching ratios, we estimate that A&parl0;lambda1815&parr0;=1.94+/-0.17 and A&parl0;lambda3344&parr0;=2.55+/-0.19 s-1. Because these numbers have a sum with an experimentally determined uncertainty of 5%, they will provide more accurate results than the calculated A-values for determining electron temperature and density from astrophysical Ne iii line ratios.