Atomic structure calculations and beam-foil observations of La IV

Abstract

Relativistic Hartree–Fock and multiconfigurational Dirac–Fock calculations of atomic structure and transition rates have been carried out in trebly ionized lanthanum (La3+, Z = 57). The calculations have to cope with configuration interaction effects but also with the very complex situation of the collapse of the 4f wave function. The calculations are compared to experimental data obtained with beam-foil spectroscopy in the extreme ultraviolet, at ion energies that favour the production of the spectrum La IV. Besides lines known from sliding spark discharges, many more lines are observed that have not yet been identified. Time-resolved measurements yield three level lifetimes in La IV that agree roughly with the results of our own calculations.