Zirconium isotope shift measurement using laser pumping and optogalvanic detection

Abstract

We report the measurement of the even isotope shifts for eight zirconium transitions between odd levels near 18 000 cm−1 and levels of the e5F even term located above 35 000 cm−1. These transitions are scanned by a probe dye laser; the optogalvanic effect is used to detect laser absorption, while laser pumping from the ground term is employed to increase the population of the odd levels in the hollow-cathode lamp used as the zirconium vapor generator. Because of the narrow bandwidth (5 MHz) of the pump beam, for each isotope only atoms in a specific speed class are pumped, and the probe beam requires no other sub-Doppler techniques for the different zirconium isotopes to be resolved.