HYPERFINE-STRUCTURE INTERVALS AND ABSOLUTE FREQUENCY-MEASUREMENT IN THE 2P(4)3S P-2(J)-]2P(4)3P D-2(J), FINE-STRUCTURE MULTIPLET OF ATOMIC FLUORINE BY DIODE-LASER SPECTROSCOPY

We have measured the hyperfine structure splittings of the three compo nents of the 2p(4)3s P-2(J)-->2p(4)3p D-2(J') multiplet in atomic fluo rine using both Doppler-free saturated absorption spectroscopy with an external cavity diode laser and Doppler-limited absorption spectrosco py with a noncavity diode laser. Specifically, we have obtained spectr a of the J = 1/2 --> J' = 3/2 transition 780 nm, the J = 3/2 --> J' = 5/2 transition at 775 nm, and the J = 3/2 --> J' = 3/2 transition at 7 61 nm. The fluorine atoms were generated from a 10% mix of F-2 in He u sing a 2.45-GHz microwave generator and cavity pressures of approximat ely 0.5 torr. We report here values for hyperfine splittings and const ants for the upper and lower states of these transitions. In addition, the absolute frequency of one of the hyperfine components of the J = 1/2 --> J' = 3/2 transition at 780 nm was measured using a recent abso lute frequency measurement of the D-2 transition in Rb.