Lifetime measurements on long-lived levels of confined highly charged ions

A technique based on the injection of highly charged ions from new low-energy ion sources into a Kingdon ion trap has been used to measure millisecond or longer lifetimes {τ} of metastable levels in ground terms of the ions. The technique has been initially applied to ions of argon, with the results {τ}(Ar¹⁰⁺,2p⁴ ³{P}₁)=14.8(1.1) ms, τ({Ar}⁹⁺$,2${p}⁵$ $²P1/2)=8.53(0.24) ms, and {τ}(Ar²⁺,3p⁴ ¹{S}₀$)=159.7(9.7) ms.