Isotopes through the looking glass

Abstract

Nuclear distributions affect many aspects of atomic spectra. As an example, recent experimental results for the hyperfine anomaly in Fr isotopes are considered. These depend on nuclear charge and magnetization distributions. The variations in charge radii for these isotopes were studied earlier by measuring optical isotope shifts. The hyperfine anomalies for the odd-odd isotopes involve the neutron distributions, of interest for studies of parity nonconserving effects along a chain of isotopes.