Evidence for a Nuclear Electric Quadrupole Moment for Sb^(123)

Abstract

Measurements of the hyperfine structure of the line λ5895 of Sb II by the use of a Fabry-Perot interferometer have shown that there are deviations from the interval rule in the case of the isotope with mass number 123. The hyperfine structure intervals of the ^3D_1 level of Sb^(121) (I=5/2) are found to be 0.6801 and 0.4832 cm^(−1). The corresponding intervals in Sb^(123) (I=7/2) are 0.4814 and 0.3603 cm^(−1). The error in these measurements is of the order of 0.001 cm. The observed ratio of the two separations gives 1.407 and 1.336 for the light and heavy isotope, respectively, whereas the corresponding ratios on the basis of the interval rule are 1.400 and 1.286. The deviation in the case of the light isotope is within the experimental error. The deviation for the heavy isotope, however, is a real effect which cannot be accounted for on the basis of perturbing effects of neighboring levels and must therefore be ascribed to the presence of an electric quadrupole moment of the nucleus of Sb^(123).

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