Eur. Phys. J. D (2014) 68: 192
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2014-50136-1

Regular Article

Three-step laser excitation of the odd-parity 5s5d³D → 5snf ³F states of cadmium

¹ National Institute of Lasers and Optronics (NILOP), PO Box Nilore, 45650 Islamabad, Pakistan
² Department of Physics, International Islamic University, Sector H-10, 44000 Islamabad, Pakistan
³ National Center for Physics, Quaid-i-Azam University Campus, 45320 Islamabad, Pakistan

^a e-mail: dralinadeem@yahoo.com

Received: 21 February 2014
Received in final form: 15 April 2014
Published online: 24 July 2014

Abstract

We report new experimental data on the term energies and effective quantum numbers of the highly excited odd parity states of cadmium in the 71 773–72 500 cm^-1 energy range. The experiment was performed using three dye lasers simultaneously pumped by the second harmonic (532 nm) of the Nd;YAG laser. The vapor containment and detection system was a thermionic diode ion detector working in a space charge limited mode. The new observations include the 5snf³F₃ (12 ⩽ n ⩽ 52), 5snf³F₄ (13 ⩽ n ⩽ 33) and 5snf³F₂ (12 ⩽ n ⩽ 22) Rydberg series excited from the 5s5d³D multiplet. A two parameter fit to the transitions energies of the 5snf³F₃ series yields the binding energy of the 5snd ²D₂ level as 13 042.178 ± 0.02 cm^-1 and consequently the first ionization of cadmium is determined as 72 540.05 ± 0.13 cm^-1, which is in good agreement with the previously reported value.