Impact of buffer gas quenching on the 1S0 → 1P1 ground-state atomic transition in nobelium

Using the sensitive Radiation Detected Resonance Ionization Spectroscopy (RADRIS) technique an optical transition in neutral nobelium (No, Z = 102) was identified. A remnant signal when delaying the ionizing laser indicated the influence of a strong buffer gas induced de-excitation of the optically populated level. A subsequent investigation of the chemical homologue, ytterbium (Yb, Z = 70), enabled a detailed study of the atomic levels involved in this process, leading to the development of a rate equation model. This paves the way for characterizing resonance ionization spectroscopy (RIS) schemes used in the study of nobelium and beyond, where atomic properties are currently unknown.