Measurement of the Spin-forbidden Decay rate (3s3d)¹D₂ to (3s3p)³P_(2,1) in ²⁴Mg

We have measured the spin-forbidden decay rate from (3s3d)$^{1}$D$_{2}$ $\to$ (3s3p)$^{3}$P$_{2,1}$ in $^{24}$Mg atoms trapped in a magneto-optical trap. The total decay rate, summing up both exit channels (3s3p)$^{3}$P$_{1}$ and (3s3p)$^{3}$P$_{2}$, yields (196 $\pm$ 10) s$^{-1}$ in excellent agreement with resent relativistic many-body calculations of [S.G. Porsev et al., Phys. Rev. A. \textbf{64}, 012508 (2001)]. The characterization of this decay channel is important as it may limit the performance of quantum optics experiments carried out with this ladder system as well as two-photon cooling experiments currently explored in several groups.