Radiative lifetime measurements of 2P3/2 and 2P1/2 metastable levels in triply charged xenon using electrostatic ion beam trap

The radiative lifetimes of Xe3+ ions in the metastable 5s25p32P3/2 and 2P1/2 states were measured by using an electrostatic ion beam trap. The lifetimes were obtained by measuring the number of photons emitted during the 2P3/2 → 2D3/2 (447 nm) and 2P1/2 → 4S3/2 (357 nm) forbidden transitions of Xe3+, as a function of the storage time. The storage lifetime of the Xe3+ was simultaneously measured by detecting the Xe ions with changed charge escaping from the trap, which yielded information pertaining to the correction of the collision-induced loss of Xe3+ in the trap. The obtained lifetimes of 7.0 ± 0.2 ms for the 2P3/2 state and 16.6 ± 0.8 ms for the 2P1/2 state were compared with previously reported theoretical and experimental values.