Isotope-shift and hyperfine-constant measurements of near-infrared xenon transitions in glow discharges and on a metastableXe(3P2)beam

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the hyperfine structure and isotope shift of the xenon atom. The study was performed using a semiconductor diode laser mounted in an extended-cavity configuration and emitting in the near-infrared range of spectrum. Doppler-free spectra of four transitions between 820 and 830 nm were obtained by using either a saturation spectroscopy technique in a cell or a laser-induced fluorescence technique on a collimated atomic metastable beam. The hyperfine coupling constants of ${}^{129}\mathrm{Xe}$ and ${}^{131}\mathrm{Xe}$ were determined for the levels ${1s}_{5},$ ${1s}_{4},$ ${1s}_{2},$ ${2p}_{2},$ ${2p}_{4},$ and ${2p}_{6}$ (Paschen notation). Moreover, a systematic study of the isotope shift was performed for the ${1s}_{3}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{2p}_{4}$ $(\ensuremath{\lambda}=820.8\mathrm{nm})$ and ${1s}_{5}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{2p}_{6}$ (\ensuremath{\lambda}=823.3 nm) transitions for which all the stable isotopes ${}^{128--131}\mathrm{Xe},$ ${}^{132}\mathrm{Xe},$ ${}^{134}\mathrm{Xe},$ and ${}^{136}\mathrm{Xe}$ were fully resolved.