Microwave Zeeman Spectrum of Atomic Fluorine

Abstract

A paramagnetic resonance absorption spectrum has been observed in the products of a radio frequency electrodeless discharge in fluorine gas. The spectrum consists of eight lines, widely spaced over a magnetic field range 2000-6000 gauss, which can be identified with $\Delta M_F=\pm 1$ transitions in the ground ${}_{}{}^2{}_{}{}^{}P_{\frac{3}{2}}^{}{}_{}{}^{}$ level of the ${\mathrm{F}}^{19}$ atom. Analysis of the spectrum yields $-\frac{g_J(\mathrm{F}; {}_{}{}^2{}_{}{}^{}P_{\frac{3}{2}}^{}{}_{}{}^{})}{g_p}=438.4839\mathrm{}\pm 0.0003$, $\Delta \nu (\mathrm{F}; {}_{}{}^2{}_{}{}^{}P_{\frac{3}{2}}^{}{}_{}{}^{})=4020.01\mathrm{}\pm 0.02$ Mc/sec, $-\frac{a^{\prime \prime \prime }(\mathrm{F}; {}_{}{}^2{}_{}{}^{}P)}{h}=446\mathrm{}\pm 10$ Mc/sec, where $a^{\prime \prime \prime }$ is the coupling constant of the off-diagonal hyperfine interaction in the ${}_{}{}^2{}_{}{}^{}P$ term and $g_p$ is the $g$ factor of protons in a cylindrical sample of mineral oil.