HYPERFINE-STRUCTURE STUDY OF THE 3D105P2P3/2 LEVEL OF NEUTRAL COPPER USING PULSED LEVEL-CROSSING SPECTROSCOPY AT SHORT LASER WAVELENGTHS

A hyperfine-structure study of the strongly perturbed 3d105p P3/22 state of neutral copper was performed using pulsed level-crossing spectroscopy. Excitation was accomplished at the short wavelength of 202 nm, where intense laser pulses were obtained using frequency tripling of dye laser radiation. For Cu63 we obtained a=61.7(9) MHz, b=4.9(7) MHz, and =25.5(10) ns for the magnetic dipole and the electric quadrupole interaction constants and the lifetime, respectively. A comparison with theoretical calculations based on the multiconfiguration Hartree-Fock method is made. A discussion of the usefulness of level-crossing, quantum-beat, and radio-frequency techniques for high-resolution spectroscopy at wavelengths in the uv and vacuum-uv region is presented. © 1990 The American Physical Society.