Measurement of Photoionization Cross Sections of the Excited States of Titanium

Resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization of the titanium atoms has been investigated in the 293 321 nm wavelength. We couple a laser-ablated metal target into a molecular beam to produce free atoms. Ions produced from photoionization of the neutral atoms are monitored by a home-built time-of-flight mass spectrometer. Photoionization cross sections of the excited states of Ti I were deduced from the dependence of the ion signal intensity on the laser intensity for photon energies close to the ionization threshold. The values obtained range from 0.2 Mb to 6.0 Mb. No significant isotope-dependence was found from measurements of the photoionization cross sections of ^46Ti, ^47Ti, and ^48Ti.