Spectroscopy of Mn atoms isolated in solid ⁴He

J Chem Phys. 2014 Jun 7;140(21):214314. doi: 10.1063/1.4880556.

Abstract

We present an experimental study of the laser-induced luminescence spectra of Mn atoms in solid helium matrices. We observe transitions of the valence electron and of inner-shell electrons. We find that the Mn-He interaction perturbs the inner-shell transitions to a lesser extent than the valence-electron transitions. The observed lineshapes of the inner-shell transitions of Mn are similar to those of an inner-shell transition in Ba studied earlier. At the same time, they are more strongly perturbed than the corresponding transitions in Au and Cu under the same conditions. We suggest a qualitative explanation of these observations based on the atomic bubble model. Our results also suggest that the inner-shell transitions of Mn in solid He are more strongly perturbed than the same lines of Mn isolated in solid Ar or Kr matrices.