Lifetime differences among the B2+ 1s2p24 P levels

The 1s2s2p 4P0-1s2p24P transition of B2+ has been studied by beam-foil spectroscopic methods. The decay curve exhibits two main decay components with decay constants of (1.45+-0.15) ns and (2.2+-0.15) ns which represent the lifetimes of the 1s2p24Psub(5/2) and 4Psub(1/2,3/2) levels, respectively. The problems of the evaluation are discussed. The results are compared with the results of other experiments reporting only one lifetime component and with the trends of experimental and theoretical data along the isoelectronic sequence. (orig.)