Metastable 40Ar＊ atoms are produced in the two metastable states 3p54s [3/2]2 and 3p5 4s′ [1/2]0 in a pulsed DC discharge in a beam, and are subsequently excited to the even-parity autoionizing resonance series 3pSnp′[3/2]1,2, 3p5 np′ [1/2]1, and 3p5nf′[5/2]3 using single photon excitation with a pulsed dye laser. The excitation spectra of the even-parity autoion- izing resonance series from the metastable 40Ar＊ are obtained by recording the autoionized Ar＋ ions with time-of-flight ion detection in the photon energy range of 32500-35600 cm-1 with an experimental bandwidth of 〈0.1 cm-1. A wealth of autoionizing resonances are newly observed, from which more precise and systematic spectroscopic data of the level energies and quantum defects are derived.
