Structural Properties of the Negative Calcium Ion:Binding Energies and Fine-Structure Splitting

V. V. Petrunin; H. H. Andersen; P. Balling; T. Andersen

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.76.744

Structural Properties of the Negative Calcium Ion:Binding Energies and Fine-Structure Splitting

V. V. Petrunin, H. H. Andersen, P. Balling, and T. Andersen

Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 744 – Published 29 January 1996

Abstract

The binding energies of the ${4 s}^{2} 4 p {}^{2}P$ ground state in ${Ca}^{-}$ have been determined by means of state-selective photoionization of Ca atoms produced in s-wave photodetachment to be $24.55 \pm 0.10$ meV for the $J = 1 / 2$ and $19.73 \pm 0.10$ meV for the $J = 3 / 2$ component. The sensitivity of the detection technique applied has also made it possible to disprove previous claims for the observation of a metastable ${4 s 4 p}^{2} {}^{4}P$ state in ${Ca}^{-}$ .