Neodymium two-step optogalvanic spectroscopy in a hollow cathode lamp

• Published in: Spectrochimica acta. Part B: Atomic spectroscopy 2011-09, Vol.66 (9), p.748-753
• Main Authors: Victor, Alessandro R., Destro, Marcelo G., Sbampato, Maria Esther, Neri, Jose W., Silveira, Carlos A.B., Oliveira, Antonio Carlos, Rodrigues, Nicolau A.S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Excitation; Hollow cathodes; Lamps; Laser multistep excitation; Lasers; Neodymium; Neon; Optogalvanic spectroscopy; Rare earth; Spectra
• ISSN: 0584-8547; 1873-3565
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sab.2011.09.005

This paper presents the results of Doppler-limited optogalvanic spectroscopy in commercial neodymium hollow cathode lamp, ranging from 580 to 600 nm. Using the laser multistep excitation technique, five transitions for the first step excitation from the neodymium ground state and seven transitions related to the second step of photoionization scheme were observed. Within these results, for the first time, a new line, 596.645 nm, was observed which could be attributed to a possible two-step transition to neodymium energy level from the 16 979.352 cm − 1 to 33 735.4 cm − 1. The simulated (synthetic) spectra of a mixture of neon (Ne I) and neodymium (Nd I) in this region are compared with experiments in order to facilitate data analysis. ► Neodymium atom was studied using single and two-step optogalvanic spectroscopy. ► Neodymium single and two-step spectra were obtained by laser excitation. ► Five transitions from the ground state and seven of two-step were observed. ► The transitions were observed ranging from 580 to 600 nm. ► One new line at 596.645 nm was observed, but not found in the literature yet.