THE FINE AND MAGNETIC HYPERFINE-STRUCTURE OF 87SRF IN ITS X2-SIGMA+ STATE

A molecular beam rf-optical double resonance experiment was performed on 87SrF in its naturally occurring abundance ratio. The natural occurring abundances of the strontium isotopes are 86Sr (9.8%), 87Sr(7.02%), and 88Sr (82.5%). Numerous magnetic dipole allowed transitions between ρ-doublets in the X 2Σ + state were measured to an accuracy of 3 kHz. The observed spectra were analyzed in terms of an effective Hamiltonian which includes the magnetic hyperfine and electric quadrupole interactions arising from the 87Sr (I = 9/2) and 19F (I = 1/2) nuclei. The extracted spectroscopic hyperfine parameters were interpreted in terms of a simple molecular orbital picture for the electronic nature of the X 2Σ+ state. A comparison is made to previous results for the more abundant 86SrF and 88SrF isotopic forms. © 1990 American Institute of Physics.