LIFETIMES OF THE 7P LEVELS IN HG-II

Measurements of the lifetimes for the 5d(10)7p P-2(1/2) and P-2(3/2) l evels in Hg II have been made using beam-foil excitation. The lifetime s were extracted both by exponential curve fitting of the individual d ecay curves and by joint analysis of the cascade-correlated decay curv es using the ANDC method. The results are tau(J = 1/2) = 14.5 +/- 1.0 ns and tau(J = 3/2) = 1.2 +/- 0.2 ns. Theoretical computations are pre sented indicating that this large J dependence results from the combin ed influence of a near-lying cancellation node and CI-induced decay to the 5d96s2 levels.