Lifetime Measurements of the DΠ State of HfS and the bΠ1 State of HfO

Lifetime measurements of individual rotational levels in excited states of hafnium oxide and hafnium sulfide have been performed using population probing by resonant two-photon ionization in a molecular beam. For the b³Π₁ state of HfO rotational levels in the vibrational level v=0 were found to have lifetimes in the region 650-700 ns. For the D¹Π state of HfS rotational level lifetimes in the vibrational levels v=0 and v=1 were determined to be around 240 ns. The technique used here provides very accurate results and the uncertainty in the reported values is only about 2%. Possible sources of errors are examined. The absorption oscillator strengths from the ground state are calculated.