Laser and radiofrequency spectroscopy of the 5d 4 6s 6 D multiplet in Ta I

The hyperfine structure (hfs) of¹⁸¹Ta has been investigated using laser radio-frequency double resonance and high resolution laser spectroscopy on collimated atomic beams. The magnetic dipole and electric quadrupole hyperfine structure coupling constants of the 5d ^{4 6} s 6D _{3/2, 5/2, 7/2, 9/2} metastable states have been determined using radio-frequency spectroscopy. In the 5d ⁴ 6s ⁶ D _1/2 metastable state and the excited 5d ³ 6s 6p ⁴ D _3/2,⁶ D _{5/2, 9/2} as well as the unidentified 28 182.6 cm^–1 and 30 021.2 cm^–1 states, hfs constants have been obtained from high resolution laser spectroscopy. A radio-frequency converter has been developed in order to reach the frequency region 2.7–10 GHz.