Disentanglement of magnetic field mixing reveals the spontaneous M2 decay rate for a metastable level in Xe+

We have investigated the radiative decay of the metastable level 5d(4)D(7/2) in Xe+. Theoretically we find the decay to be heavily dominated by an M2 transition and not by M1/E2 transitions. Lifetime measurements of 5d(4)D(7/2) in a storage ring are difficult since magnetic mixing of the metastable with a short-lived level quenches its population. Decay rates were determined at different magnetic field strengths (B) in order to allow a nonlinear extrapolation to B=0. The experimental lifetime of 2.4 +/- 0.8 s was in agreement with the calculated value, but much smaller than previously estimated.