6533b7d1fe1ef96bd125d052

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Magnetic octupole moment of 173Yb using collinear laser spectroscopy

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description

The hyperfine constants of the 4f146s6p3Po2 state in neutral Yb have been measured using three different dipole transitions. This state was recently shown to have a comparatively large hyperfine magnetic octupole splitting, and thus a puzzlingly large magnetic octupole moment. The measurement is performed using collinear laser spectroscopy on a fast atomic beam, which provides a straightforward route to probing long-lived metastable atomic states with high resolution. From the combined analysis of all three lines we find no significant evidence for a nonzero octupole moment in 173Yb. peerReviewed