Precision measurement of the metastable 3P2 lifetime of neon

Abstract

The lifetime of the metastable 3P2 state of neon has been determined as 14.73(14)s [decay rate 0.06790(64)s−1] by measuring the decay in fluorescence of an ensemble of 20Ne atoms trapped in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). Due to low background gas pressure (p<5×10−11mbar) and low relative excitation to the 3D3 state (0.5 % excitation probability) only small corrections have to be included in the lifetime extrapolation. Together with a careful analysis of residual loss mechanisms in the MOT a lifetime determination to high precision is achieved.