Lifetime of the 1 s2(P11) and 1 s4(P13) levels of neon by the cascade Hanle effect

The theory of the cascade level-crossing effect as formulated by Happer is evaluated for zero-nuclear-spin atomic systems and extended to include the case of a polarized initial state. We have used this theory to interpret our cascade-Hanle-effect results (zero-field level crossings) to obtain the lifetime of the two resonance levels, 1 s2(P11) and 1 s4(P13), of the 2 p53 s configuration of neon. The resonance lines 744 (1 s4-S01) and 736 (1 s2-S01) are produced in the cascade to the ground S01 state when a beam of metastable 1 s3(P03) and 1 s5(P23) neon atoms is excited by selected lines of the 2 p53 s-2 p53 p transition array. Our results are τ(1 s2)=1.65±0.16 nsec and τ(1 s4)=20.5±1.5 nsec. © 1976 The American Physical Society.