The nuclear magnetic moment of ²⁰⁸Bi and its relevance for a test of bound-state strong-field QED

The hyperfine structure splitting in the 6p2 4S3/2 -> 6p27s 4P1/2 transition at 307 nm in atomic 208Bi was measured with collinear laser spectroscopy at ISOLDE, CERN. The hyperfine A and B factors of both states were determined with an order of magnitude improved accuracy. Based on these measurements, theoretical input for the hyperfine structure anomaly, and results from hyperfine measurements on hydrogen-like and lithium-like 209Bi80+,82+, the nuclear magnetic moment of 208Bi has been determined to μ(208Bi) =+4.570(10) μN . Using this value, the transition energy of the ground-state hyperfine splitting in hydrogen-like and lithium-like 208Bi80+,82+ and their specific difference of −67.491(5)(148) meV are predicted. This provides a means for an experimental confirmation of the cancellation of nuclear structure effects in the specific difference in order to exclude such contributions as the cause of the hyperfine puzzle, the recently reported 7-σ discrepancy between experiment and bound-state strong-field QED calculations of the specific difference in the hyperfine structure splitting of 209Bi80+,82+

Nuclear charge radii of ⁶²⁻⁸⁰Zn and their dependence on cross-shell proton excitations

Nuclear charge radii of ⁶²⁻⁸⁰Zn have been determined using collinear laser spectroscopy of bunched ion beams at CERN-ISOLDE. The subtle variations of observed charge radii, both within one isotope and along the full range of neutron numbers, are found to be well described in terms of the proton excitations across the Z = 28 shell gap, as predicted by large-scale shell model calculations. It comprehensively explains the changes in isomer-to-ground state mean square charge radii of ⁶⁹⁻⁷⁹Zn, the inversion of the odd-even staggering around N = 40 and the odd-even staggering systematics of the Zn charge radii. With two protons above Z = 28, the observed charge radii of the Zn isotopic chain show a cumulative effect of different aspects of nuclear structure including single particle structure, shell closure, correlations and deformations near the proposed doubly magic nuclei, ⁶⁸Ni and ⁷⁸Ni