Experimental and theoretical lifetimes and transition probabilities in Sb I

TL;DR

This paper reports new experimental lifetimes for 12 levels of Sb I, including seven first-time measurements, and provides advanced theoretical calculations of transition probabilities, comparing them to experimental data to test atomic models.

Contribution

It presents the first experimental lifetimes for seven Sb I levels and introduces new theoretical transition probabilities using a Multiconfigurational Dirac-Hartree-Fock approach.

Findings

Experimental lifetimes for 12 Sb I levels, seven reported for the first time.

Theoretical transition probabilities calculated and compared with experimental data.

Lifetimes of 5d F levels depend strongly on J-value due to level mixing.

Abstract

We present experimental atomic lifetimes for 12 levels in Sb I, out of which seven are reported for the first time. The levels belong to the 5p$^2$($^3$P)6s $^{2}$P, $^{4}$P and 5p$^2$($^3$P)5d $^{4}$P, $^{4}$F and $^{2}$F terms. The lifetimes were measured using time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence. In addition, we report new calculations of transition probabilities in Sb I using a Multiconfigurational Dirac-Hartree-Fock method. The physical model being tested through comparisons between theoretical and experimental lifetimes for 5d and 6s levels. The lifetimes of the 5d $^4$F$_{3/2, 5/2, 7/2}$ levels (19.5, 7.8 and 54 ns, respectively) depend strongly on the $J$-value. This is explained by different degrees of level mixing for the different levels in the $^4$F term.