Optical determination of the ^20,22Ne 3s–3p specific mass shift

Abstract

By using a supersonic beam of metastable Ne* atoms and a single-mode dye laser we determine the 2p(5)3s-3p specific mass shift of the (20,22)Ne isotopes by means of optical spectroscopy. The resulting value, on the basis of a systematic measurement of transition isotope shifts at different transition energies between 15,300 and 17,000 cm(-1), is 473 +/- 2.5 MHz. This is ~ 50 MHz larger than the best-known theoretical value.