Step-wise laser excitation of the 4snf 3F Rydberg states of neutral zinc

The new experimental results on the effective quantum numbers and term energies of the highly excited odd-parity 4s4d 3D1,2,3 →4snf 3F2,3,4 Rydberg transitions of zinc have been presented. The experiment was performed using the three dye lasers simultaneously pumped by the second harmonic (532 nm) of the Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. The new observation includes the 4snf 3F3 (12 ≤n ≤ 50) series excited from the 4s4d 3D2 intermediate level. In addition, the 4snf 3F2 (12 ≤n ≤ 28) and 4snf3F4 (12 ≤n ≤ 33) series are observed from the thermally populated 4s4d 3D1,3 fine structure components. The ionization potential of zinc has been determined from the unperturbed 4snf 3F3 series as 75769.31 ± 0.15 cm−1, which is in excellent agreement with the previously reported value.