Primary populations of metastable antiprotonic (4)He and (3)He atoms

Initial distributions of metastable antiprotonic (4)He and (3)He atoms over principal (n) and angular momentum (l) quantum numbers have been deduced using laser spectroscopy experiments. The regions n = 37-40 and n = 35-38 in the two atoms account for almost all of the observed fractions [(3.0 +/- 0.1)% and (2.4 +/- 0.1)%] of antiprotons captured into metastable states.