Magnetic octupole moment of 173Yb using collinear laser spectroscopy

Abstract

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.