%0 Journal Article
%T Lifetime measurement of the metastable 3d 2D5/2 state in the 40Ca+ ion using the shelving technique on a few-ion string
%A Peter Staanum
%A Inger S. Jensen
%A Randi G. Martinussen
%A Dirk Voigt
%A Michael Drewsen
%J Physics
%D 2003
%I arXiv
%R 10.1103/PhysRevA.69.032503
%X We present a measurement of the lifetime of the metastable 3d 2D5/2 state in the 40Ca+ ion, using the so-called shelving technique on a string of five Doppler laser-cooled ions in a linear Paul trap. A detailed account of the data analysis is given, and systematic effects due to unwanted excitation processes and collisions with background gas atoms are discussed and estimated. From a total of 6805 shelving events, we obtain a lifetime tau=1149+/-14(stat.)+/-4(sys.)ms, a result which is in agreement with the most recent measurements.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0311103v1