Characterization of a dual-etalon Ti:sapphire laser via resonance ionization spectroscopy of stable copper isotopes

Abstract

Resonance ionization spectroscopy (RIS) inside a buffer gas-filled ion guide is a very sensitive tool for a first determination of nuclear moments and charge radii of radioactive isotopes produced using the IGISOL technique. Currently employed pulsed Ti:sapphire laser systems have a typical laser linewidth of 5 GHz in the fundamental, which in many cases is the dominant line broadening effect. We present results of RIS on stable 63,65Cu using a dual-etalon Ti:sapphire laser with a reduced linewidth of 1 GHz. Determination of hyperfine parameters of 63Cu revealed discrepancies when compared to existing higher resolution data. A study of systematic uncertainties is underway using a homemade scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer (FPI). A real-time recording of the mode structure of the multi-longitudinal mode Ti:sapphire laser during a scan of the 244.238 nm atomic ground state transition in parallel with the readout from the commercial wavemeter has identified sources of uncertainty.