2018/12/06 by David Bresteau, Cyril Drag, Christophe Blondel · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · Chemistry · #Atomic and Molecular Physics #Radioactive Decay and Measurement Techniques #Nuclear physics research studies #Lead (geology) #Chemistry #Materials science #Environmental science #Environmental chemistry #Geology
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1361-6455/aaf685
openalex publication_date 2018/12/06 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
Abstract A beam of Pb − ions produced by a cesium sputtering ion source is photodetached in the presence of an electric field, inside a linear optical cavity. Amplification of the light flux by the resonant cavity makes it possible to record exploitable photoelectron interferograms, even though the Pb − current does not exceed a few pA. The laser wavenumber is set either just above the first 3 P 1 fine-structure excited threshold of neutral Pb, or above the higher 3 P 2 threshold. The photoelectron kinetic energy is deduced from the electron interferograms with a precision high enough to provide a new experimental value of the electron affinity of lead, 8 times more precise and slightly lower than the one measured in 2016: <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow/> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">e</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> <mml:mspace width="-0.16em"/> <mml:mi>A</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mi>Pb</mml:mi> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>287</mml:mn> <mml:mspace width="0.25em"/> <mml:mn>714.9</mml:mn> <mml:mo stretchy="false">(</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1.5</mml:mn> <mml:mo stretchy="false">)</mml:mo> <mml:msup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mspace width="0.25em"/> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msup> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> or 0.356 721(2) eV, instead of 287 733(13) m −1 or 0.356 743(16) eV.