Development of Experimental Methods, Data Analysis and Standards in Atomic Spectroscopy

Sammanfattning: The focus of this work is on the experimental techniques and data analysis in atomic spectroscopy. Improved methods for the analysis of spectra and the determination of level energies are presented. Most of these are based on a rigorous statistical treatment of the spectroscopic data. Strong lines in the spectrum of singly-ionized neon between 2000 and 5000Å are suggested as tertiary wavelength standards. These have been investigated by means of Fourier-transform spectroscopy on the light from a hollow-cathode source. Neon has two isotopes that affect the shape of the spectral lines. In order to derive accurate wavelengths, this was accounted for by a detailed deconvolution of the line profiles. A Penning-discharge lamp is introduced as a plasma source for radiative lifetime measurements by the time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence technique. This lamp proved to have significant advantages over more commonly used plasma sources. Lifetimes in doubly-ionized ytterbium were measured, which were combined with relative line intensities from Fourier-transform spectra of the Penning-discharge lamp, yielding experimental transition probabilities of the species.