Atomstrahlresonanzexperiment zur Untersuchung der Hyperfeinstruktur angeregter Atomzustände durch Beobachten von Besetzungszahländerungen im Grundzustand

Abstract

A modification of the atomic beam magnetic resonance method for investigation of the hyperfine structure of excited atomic states will be described. Radiofrequency transitions between the hyperfine structure niveaus of the excited state, which are unequally populated by circularly polarized light, are detected by observing the resulting change in population number of the hyperfine structure niveaus of the ground state using magnetic deflection in an inhomogeneous field and additional radiofrequency transitions in the ground state as analyzers.

As an application the hyperfine structure of the excited 4² P _3/2-state of K³⁹ has been investigated in an almost strong magnetic field of about 65 G with a constant frequency of the applied radiofrequency field of 125.50 Mc/s. The analysis of the radiofrequency signal of the excited state detected as a change in the amplitude of a radiofrequency transition in the ground state yielded the valuesA=(6.10±0.25) Mc/s andB=(1.8±1.2) Mc/s for the hyperfine structure constants of the 4² P _3/2-state of K³⁹. Further possibilities for observing signals of the excited state with the apparatus used in this experiment are also discussed.