Simultaneous Laser- and Ion-Beam Excitation of a Na-Beam Target

We report the first measurement of Na and ${\mathrm{Na}}^{+}$ autoionization spectra following collisions of 1-MeV ${\mathrm{He}}^{+}$ ions on selectively excited $\mathrm{Na}3p{}_{}{}^2{}_{}{}^{}P_{\frac{3}{2}}^{}{}_{}{}^{}$ target atoms. The atomic states were populated with a cw dye laser which was tuned to the $\mathrm{Na}3s{}_{}{}^2{}_{}{}^{}S_{\frac{1}{2}}^{}{}_{}{}^{}\to \mathrm{Na}3p{}_{}{}^2{}_{}{}^{}P_{\frac{3}{2}}^{}{}_{}{}^{}$ transition. The simultaneous laser- ion-beam excitation technique produces significant intensity variations particularly for the decay of the ${\mathrm{Na}}^{+}2s2p^{6}3s{}_{}{}^{1,3}{}_{}{}^{}S$ and the ${\mathrm{Na}}^{+}2s2p^{6}3p{}_{}{}^{1,3}{}_{}{}^{}P$ states. The technique may provide additional information for line identification, excitation mechanisms, and angular distribution measurements.