Lifetime of the atom

Sample dissolution for ETAAS is preferably done using HNO3 or HNO3-H2O2. The method does not tolerate presence of perchloric and hydrofluoric acids. The presence of other acids in the final digests should also be avoided. Otherwise interferences may appear, sensitivity is reduced as well as the lifetime of the atomizer is shortened. Therefore the introduction of solid samples has been an object of permanent interest in ETAAS. 

Loss-less propagation through media. This means the energy of the pulse is preserved. There is no spontaneous emission, because the Rabi frequency 2r is large compared to the inverse spontaneous lifetime of the atoms 2r... 

For short-lived atoms, additional considerations with regard to the kinetics are in order. The partition equilibrium must be reached during the lifetime of the atom, which requires high reaction rates. Consider a single-step exchange reaction... 

High-resolution spectroscopy used to observe hyperfme structure in the spectra of atoms or rotational stnicture in electronic spectra of gaseous molecules connnonly must contend with the widths of the spectral lines and how that compares with the separations between lines. Tln-ee contributions to the linewidth will be mentioned here tlie natural line width due to tlie finite lifetime of the excited state, collisional broadening of lines, and the Doppler effect. 

Because of this spin selection rule, atoms which get into the lowest triplet state, 2 Si, do not easily revert to the ground 1 state the transition is forbidden by both the orbital and spin selection rules. The lowest triplet state is therefore metastable. In a typical discharge it has a lifetime of the order of 1 ms. 

Much of the Pt Mossbauer work performed so far has been devoted to studies of platinum metal and alloys in regard to nuclear properties (magnetic moments and lifetimes) of the excited Mossbauer states of Pt, lattice dynamics, electron density, and internal magnetic field at the nuclei of Pt atoms placed in various magnetic hosts. The observed changes in the latter two quantities, li/ (o)P and within a series of platinum alloys are particularly informative about the conduction electron delocalization and polarization. 

The nuclear decay of radioactive atoms embedded in a host is known to lead to various chemical and physical after effects such as redox processes, bond rupture, and the formation of metastable states [46], A very successful way of investigating such after effects in solid material exploits the Mossbauer effect and has been termed Mossbauer Emission Spectroscopy (MES) or Mossbauer source experiments [47, 48]. For instance, the electron capture (EC) decay of Co to Fe, denoted Co(EC) Fe, in cobalt- or iron-containing compormds has been widely explored. In such MES experiments, the compormd tmder study is usually labeled with Co and then used as the Mossbauer source versus a single-line absorber material such as K4[Fe(CN)6]. The recorded spectrum yields information on the chemical state of the nucleogenic Fe at ca. 10 s, which is approximately the lifetime of the 14.4 keV metastable nuclear state of Fe after nuclear decay. 

Lifetimes of free atoms and radicals account for the degree of interaction of these particles with an ambient medium and with each other. Due to high reaction capability of active particles in gaseous and, especially, in liquid media, their lifetimes are rather small. In gaseous phase, at small pressures these lifetimes are determined by heterogeneous recombination of these particles on vessel walls and by interaction of these particles with an adsorbed layer. At high gas pressures, the lifetimes are determined by bulk recombination and chemical interaction with ambient molecules. 

Linewidth The spread in wavelengths or frequencies associated with a transition in an atom or molecule. There are three contributions natural linewidth associated with the lifetime of the transition pressure broadening associated with the presence with the other molecules nearby Doppler broadening associated with relative motion of the molecule and light source. 

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