Abstract
The transition rates between levels in a multilevel system can be measured by perturbing the system and observing the response. Previous work has shown that, in general, many different sets of transition rates could account for the same response. In consequence, statistical errors in the computed rates are much larger (e.g., 10 000 times larger) than those in the original data. It is shown here that it is possible to design the experiment so as to avoid this instability. The ideal experiment uses fairly high-frequency sinusoidal perturbations in place of the impulsive or steady-state perturbations usually employed. The application to the measurement of atomic lifetimes and collisional transition rates among excited states is discussed. The method is tested with data obtained from two 6-level electronic circuits which simulate a hydroxyl molecule and a hydrogen plasma, respectively.
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