MEASUREMENT OF THE CS-133 6P P-2(1 2) STATE HYPERFINE-STRUCTURE/

We employ crossed-beam laser spectroscopy to measure the hyperfine str ucture of the 6p P-2(1/2) state of atomic Cs-133 (I = 7/2). A frequenc y-stabilized Ti:sapphire laser with 1-GHz sidebands excites a thermal atomic cesium beam through the 6s S-2(1/2) F = 3,4 --> 6p P-2(1/2) F' = 3,4 resonance transitions at 895 nm. The hyperfine splitting of the excited state is determined from the observed fluorescence spectra. Ou r result for the 6p P-2(1/2) F' = 3 to F' = 4 hyperfine splitting is 1 167.54(32) MHz, yielding a magnetic dipole coefficient of A = 291.89(8 ) MHz. In this Brief Report we also compare our results with previous measurements and theory.