Lifetime measurements of odd-parity high-excitation levels of Sn I by time-resolved laser spectroscopy

Natural radiative lifetimes of 38 odd-parity highly excited levels in neutral tin in the energy range from 43 682.737 to 56 838.68 cm(-1) have been measured by a time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence technique in an atomic beam produced by laser ablation on a solid tin sample. All the levels were excited from the metastable P-3(1,2) and D-1(2) levels in the ground configuration. The second and third harmonics of a dye laser were adopted as the tunable exciting source (207-250 nm). The lifetime results obtained in this paper are in the range from 4.6 to 292 ns and will be useful in extending the set of oscillator strengths available in Sn I.