Ionization potentials of the lanthanides and actinides – towards atomic spectroscopy of super-heavy elements

Prospects for laser spectroscopy, ion chemistry and mobility measurements of superheavy elements in buffer-gas traps

“…The experiment allowed an estimate of the upper limit of the ionization potential IP ≤ 54,250 cm −1 = 6.7 eV from ν 1 + ν 2 + ν th ≥ IP where ν th is the thermal energy which can be transferred in a collision with a buffergas atom. This value is in accord with predictions of IP = 52,400 cm −1 = 6.5 eV, see [81] and also [87].…”

Atomic transitions and the first ionization potential of promethium determined by laser spectroscopy

“…5, containing 342 lines in a range of approximately 800 cm −1 . An increase in the overall ion signal can be observed in the regions of the expected IP [13,14], which suggests that the linear trend in lanthanide IPs is indeed accurate. However, a more precise IP value may not be readily determined from these spectra.…”

“…Spectrum obtained from scanning the third excitation step in scheme C2. The literature values of the first ionization potential of 44 985(140) cm −1 [14] and 45 027(80) cm −1 [13] are shown by the orange dashed and green dash-dotted vertical lines, respectively. The shaded regions indicate the uncertainty.…”

“…Possibly this effect can be observed in the two highest field thresholds. We expect the influence of the Stark effect to be somewhat limited to the laser linewidth, since in our measurement we use fixed (9) 28.23(10) 0.5(2) 44 987.40 (9) 30.05(9) 0.4(1) 44 980.06 (9) 44.68(12) 0.5(2) 44 970.55 (9) 68.22 (11) 0.4(1) 44 962.31 (9) 92.48(12) 0.4(1) 44 960.18 (9) 99.24(15) 0.6(2) 44 951.96 (9) 128.85(12) 0.5(2) 44 949.43 (9) 138.06(17) 0.6(2) 44 934.77 (10) 199.92 (14) 0.8(2) 44 933.75 (10) 204.03(13) 1.0 (3) wavelength lasers and have to consider a convolution of the approximately Gaussian spectral laser profile and the Stark manifold as excited states. From our data we do not find a maximum width limit W of the thresholds, which could be associated with the laser linewidth (which is on the order of 10 GHz).…”

“…Moreover, the first ionization potential of Pm has never been determined experimentally. Worden et al [13] and Wendt et al [14] report values of 45 027(80) cm −1 and 44 985(140) cm −1 , respectively. Both of these results were obtained from a systematic interpolation of the IPs of all lanthanide elements.…”