Hyperfine structure investigations in excitedD-states of171Yb and173Yb

The hyperfine structure splittings in the excited 4f ¹⁴6s6d states of¹⁷¹Yb and¹⁷³Yb have been measured. Isotope selection was achieved by stepwise laser excitation of the¹ D ₂ and³ D _{2, 1} states. The³ D ₃ state of¹⁷¹Yb was excited via collisional excitation of an intermediate level. The magnetic and electric hfs coupling constants are given and compared to ab initio values calculated from relativistic self-consistent-field wavefunctions.