Lifetimes of fine structure levels of the Li atom for 20 < n < 31 by an extended Ritz formula

Abstract

Lithium and lithium-like elements look like hydrogen atoms if their two electrons and the nucleus are considered as having a core around which a single electron is orbiting. The energy and radii expressions for hydrogen atoms can be used for lithium and lithium-like elements; an important modification is introducing an effective principal quantum number. The effective principal quantum number differs from the principal quantum number of hydrogen by the quantum defect. The quantum defect has respective values for various levels of lithium and lithium-like ions. In this study, we used extended Ritz formulas to calculate quantum defects required to calculate the energies of the ns, np, nd, and nf series up to n < 31. Using these energies, we calculated transition probabilities and then the lifetimes of the lithium levels. The lifetimes were compared with the available published data; an excellent agreement was noticed. The work also extended the available list of lifetimes to higher quantum numbers. Forty lifetimes are newly calculated and presented for the first time. A polynomial formula for each of the ns, np, nd, and nf series lifetimes has been developed that fits well the lifetime values.