Isotope shifts inNe20,22: Precision measurements and global analysis in the framework of intermediate coupling

Abstract

We report new precision measurements of the 20 Ne-22 Ne isotope shift for several transitions, as well as state-of-the-art, ab initio field-shift calculations. Our results are combined with historical measurements in a global fit to obtain the isotope shifts of all fifty low-lying neon levels with high precision. These level shifts show a wealth of electronic, nuclear, and relativistic phenomena. Relying on the analogy between mass shift and fine-structure operators, we explain this plethora of neon level-shifts utilizing a small number of effective parameters in a global parametric investigation. This investigation provides a birds-eye view on the isotope shift phenomena in noble gasses. From this vantage point, we reinterpret every effort made to calculate neon mass-shifts ab initio, and show that a remarkable agreement between experiment and theory is obtained.

Imaging Recoil Ions from Optical Collisions between Ultracold, Metastable Neon Isotopes

“…From mass spectra similar to Fig. 3, we find that the presence of near-resonant laser light, increased the formation of dimers by at least a factor of two, providing strong evidence for photoassociation in cold neon collisions (see the Supplemental Material [37], which includes refs [38][39][40], for a discussion on the extraction of branching ratios). This enhancement is qualitatively understood from the process portrayed in Fig.…”

Decay microscope for trapped neon isotopes

“…Noble gases are also trappable by laser radiation through driving of a dipole transition from a long-lived atomic metastable state [72]. For neon, a 640 nm laser drives the 3 P 2 -3 D 3 closed transition, the metastable lifetime is 15 s [73], and the isotope shifts are of order 2 GHz [74].…”

Nd+ isotope shift measurements in a cryogenically cooled neutral plasma

“…Isotope shifts (IS) of optical transitions in atoms are a valuable source of information about nuclear properties, such as nuclear charge radii and nuclear shape transitions [1][2][3]. Precise IS measurements are useful as experimental benchmarks against which theoretical atomic structure calculations can be compared (e.g., [4,5]). IS measurements have also been used to identify super-heavy elements in space [6], and probe the variation of fundamental constants [7,8].…”