Diamagnetic shifts in atomic hyperfine structure

Thesis/Dissertation · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:5924888

Lipson, S J

A series of precision measurements of the hyperfine structure of the 5/sup 2/S/sub 1/2/ ground state of two isotopes of atomic rubidium in magnetic fields of up to 8 T was made using a laser optical-pumping technique. Observed departures from the predictions of the Breit-Rabi formula include the first measurement of a magnetically induced quadrupole hyperfine shift. A field dependence of the effective value of the nuclear-to-electronic g-factor ratio g/sub I//g/sub J/ was revealed, and the previous observation of a diamagnetic shift in dipole hyperfine structure in /sup 85/Rb was confirmed and extended to /sup 87/Rb. In order to distinguish among these effects, all of the ..delta..m/sub I/ = +/- 1 nuclear Zeeman transitions in both /sup 85/Rb and /sup 87/Rb were measured at each field. Four evacuated, wax-coated sample cells were used, containing natural isotopic abundance rubidium vapor. Perturbation theory is used to examine the effects of an external magnetic field on the ground-state hyperfine structure of an alkali atom. A Hamiltonian is developed and evaluated to yield a modified Breit-Rabi formula which provides an excellent fit to the experimental data. Approximate calculations performed using this model are in good agreement with the dipole and quadruple results. The shift in the g-factor ratio, on the other hand, is much larger than predicted.

• Research Organization: Harvard Univ., Boston, MA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5924888
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640300* -- Atomic
Molecular & Chemical Physics
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ENERGY LEVELS
GROUND STATES
GYROMAGNETIC RATIO
HYPERFINE STRUCTURE
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
OPTICAL PUMPING
PERTURBATION THEORY
PUMPING
RADIOISOTOPES
RUBIDIUM 85
RUBIDIUM 87
RUBIDIUM ISOTOPES
STABLE ISOTOPES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
ZEEMAN EFFECT