Mean Life Measurements for Some Energy Levels of O I–O VI

Abstract

We have extended and clarified previous beam foil studies of oxygen below 2000 Å. Mean lives are presented for 63 transitions for the ions O I–O VI, which provide clarification or confirmation of their values for 36 levels, and first measurements of the mean lives of 5 others. Comparison is made with recent results from a variety of experimental and theoretical techniques and, in particular, good agreement is generally found with the nonclosed shell many electron theory of Nicolaides and Sinanoğlu. A brief discussion is given of the dependence on Z−1 of the f values for transitions of the type 1s22s22pn–1s22s2pn+1 along sequences isoelectronic with B I, C I, and N I. The 3P–3P0 and 3P–3S0 transitions along the C I sequence are presented in detail.