Measurement of the photoionization cross section of the (2p)5 (3p)3 D3 state of neon

Abstract

We report a new measurement of the photoionization cross section for the 2p 5 3p 3D3 state of neon at the wavelengths of 351 and 364 nm. These data were obtained by monitoring the decay of the fluorescence of atoms trapped in a magneto-optical atom trap under the presence of a photoionizing laser, a technique developed by Dinneen et al. [Opt. Lett. 17, 1706 (1992)]. We obtain absolute photoionization cross sections of [data omitted], an improvement in accuracy of a factor of 4 over previously published values. These new values are not consistent with published theoretical data.