Isotope-shift and hyperfine-constant measurements of near-infrared xenon transitions in glow discharges and on a metastable Xe(³P₂) beam

In this paper we discuss the hyperfine structure and isotope shift of the xenon atom. The study was performed using a semiconductor diode laser mounted in an extended-cavity configuration and emitting in the near-infrared range of spectrum. Doppler-free spectra of four transitions between 820 and 830 nm were obtained by using either a saturation spectroscopy technique in a cell or a laser-induced fluorescence technique on a collimated atomic metastable beam. The hyperfine coupling constants of ¹²⁹Xe and ¹³¹Xe were determined for the levels 1s₅, 1s₄, 1s₂, 2p₂, 2p₄, and 2p₆ (Paschen notation). Moreover, a systematic study of the isotope shift was performed for the 1s₃→2p₄ (λ=820.8nm) and 1s₅→2p₆ (λ=823.3 nm) transitions for which all the stable isotopes ^128–131Xe, ¹³²Xe, ¹³⁴Xe, and ¹³⁶Xe were fully resolved.