Abstract

Two-color double-resonance laser spectroscopy has been used to study highly excited bound and autoionizing states of titanium. A thermal beam of Ti is first excited to a well-known intermediate state by a fixed frequency pulsed dye laser, and then a second scannable laser populates highly excited states. Either autoionization or field ionization products are detected. The combination of double-resonance excitation with ionization detection makes this an extremely sensitive and highly selective method of studying highly excited states and photoionization in transition metal elements. Our measurements indicate a substantial error in the presently accepted value of the ionization potential of Ti I, and we present data for a revised value.

© 1988 Optical Society of America