The electron affinity of tungsten

Artikel i vetenskaplig tidskrift, 2010

The electron affinity of tungsten has been measured using laser photodetachment threshold spectroscopy in a collinear geometry. The electron affinity was determined to 6583.6(6) cm-1 by observing the onset of the process when W- ions in the 6S5/2 ground state are photodetached producing neutral W atoms in the 5D0 ground state. The measured value is in agreement with previous measurements and improves the accuracy by almost two orders of magnitude. Further, a photodetachment signal below the ground state photodetachment threshold was found, which indicates the existence of a bound excited state in W-.