We report measured and calculated values of radiative decay rates and vibrational branching fractions for the A2Π state of MgF. The decay rate measurements use time-correlated single photon counting with roughly 1% total uncertainty. Branching-fraction measurements are performed using two calibrated imaging systems to achieve few percent total uncertainty. We use the highly accurate multireference relativistic ab initio methods to calculate the Franck-Condon factors and transition dipole moments required to determine the decay rates and the branching fractions. The measurements provide a precision benchmark for testing the accuracy of the molecular structure calculations. The determination of the decay rate and vibrational branching fractions can be used to inform future optical cycling and laser cooling schemes for the MgF molecule.
@article{arxiv.2303.16276,
title = {Radiative Decay Rate and Branching Fractions of MgF},
author = {Eric Norrgard and Yuly Chamorro and Catherine Cooksey and Stephen Eckel and Nickolas Pilgram and Kayla Rodriguez and Howard Yoon and Lukas Pasteka and Anastasia Borschevsky},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2303.16276},
year = {2024}
}