Experimental and theoretical lifetimes and transition probabilities in Sb I

We present experimental atomic lifetimes for 12 levels in Sb I. The levels belong to the 5p2(3P )6s 2P , 4P , and 5p2(3P )5d 4P , 4F , and 2F terms. The lifetimes were measured using time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence. In addition, we report calculations of transition probabilities in Sb I using a multiconfigurational Dirac-Hartree-Fock method. The physical model was tested through comparisons between theoretical and experimental lifetimes for 5d and 6s levels. The lifetimes of the 5d F3/2,5/2,7/2 levels (19.5, 7.8, and 54 ns, respectively) depend strongly on the J value. This is explained by different degrees of level mixing for the different levels in the 4F term.