dc.contributor.advisor Hulet, Randall G. McAlexander, William Ian 2009-06-04T00:36:18Z 2009-06-04T00:36:18Z 1995 https://hdl.handle.net/1911/13974 Spectroscopy of the high-lying vibrational levels of the $1\sp3\Sigma\sbsp{g}{+}$ and $1\sp1\Sigma\sbsp{u}{+}$ states of both $\rm\sp6Li\sb2$ and $\rm\sp7Li\sb2$ has been accomplished via photoassociation of ultracold atomic lithium confined in a magneto-optical trap. Both these molecular states correlate to $2S\sb{1/2}$ plus $2P\sb{1/2}$ free atomic states. The long range part of these molecular potentials depends on the 2P atomic radiative lifetime. Accurate models were constructed for both the $1\sp3\Sigma\sbsp{g}{+}$ and $1\sp1\Sigma\sbsp{u}{+}$ potentials. By fitting these models to the experimentally measured vibrational levels observed in $\rm\sp6Li\sb2$ and $\rm\sp7Li\sb2$, we have been able to extract a value for the 2P lifetime of lithium. Fitting to the absolute values of the data gives a value of 26.99 $\pm$ 0.16 ns whereas fitting to differences in the spectral features gives a value of 27.04 $\pm$ 0.18 ns. While both values agree with previous work, improvements made in the potential models would enable this analysis to resolve the current discrepancy between experiment and theory. 85 p. application/pdf eng Atomic physics Precise determination of the 2P radiative atomic lifetime of lithium using photoassociative spectroscopy Thesis Text Physics Natural Sciences Rice University Masters Master of Science McAlexander, William Ian. "Precise determination of the 2P radiative atomic lifetime of lithium using photoassociative spectroscopy." (1995) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. https://hdl.handle.net/1911/13974.
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