Laser spectroscopic studies of 6pns, 6pnd, and 6pngRydberg states of lead

An atomic beam of natural lead with a population of even parity metastable states has been prepared in order to study odd parity Rydberg states of the 6 p 1/2 nl (16 ⩽ n ⩽ 67; l = 0, 2, 4) series. These states have been excited by a continuous-wave UV laser field and have been detected either by fluorescence or by field ionization. The absolute frequency of each transition component has been measured by a fringe counting wavemeter. From experimental data, the spacing hv 208 between the metastable PbI (6 p 2 ) 1 D 2 level and the first ionization limit PbII (6 p ) 2 P 1/2 0 for the isotope 208 Pb is found to be v 208 = 1 150 057 450 (150) MHz, the isotope shift of this spacing being v 208 - v 207 = 1260 (20) MHz v 208 - v 206 = 2026 (6) MHz v 208 - v 204 = 3827 (10) MHz. The magnetic hyperfine structure constant of the ion ground state as derived from the Rydberg state hyperfine structure reads A ( 207 PbII (6 p ) 2 P 1/2 0 ) = 12 880 (100) MHz.