Lifetime Measurement of the 8s Level in Francium

Abstract

We measure the lifetime of the 8s level on a magneto-optically trapped sample of ^{210}Fr atoms with time-correlated single-photon counting. The 7P_{1/2} state serves as the resonant intermediate level for two-photon excitation of the 8s level completed with a 1300 nm laser. Analysis of the fluorescence decay through the the 7P_{3/2} level gives 53.30 +- 0.44 ns for the 8s level lifetime.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure