The radiative lifetime of the S-1(0) metastable state of Xe2+ has been meas
ured with a different type of electrostatic ion trap. The ion trap stores i
on beams of a few keV using purely electrostatic fields and provides a larg
e held-free region where the stored ions oscillate. A photomultiplier worki
ng in the single-photon counting mode was used to observe the 380 nm photon
s arising from the magnetic dipole (M1) transition S-1(0)-->P-3(1) of Xe2+.
The present measurement yields a value of 4.46+/-0.08 ms, which is in good
agreement with previous measurements, but is almost four times more accura
te.