Critical examination of isotope shift and fine structure measurements for optical transitions in 6,7LiThis paper was presented at the International Conference on Precision Physics of Simple Atomic Systems, held at University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada on 21–26 July 2008.

Precise isotope shift and fine structure measurements are critically reviewed. Each experiment was checked for whether the data found for different transitions yielded consistent values for the difference in mean-square nuclear charge radius Δr2 of 6,7Li. Experiments that passed this test found Δr2 = 0.735 ± 0.036, 0.755 ± 0.023, and 0.739 ± 0.013 fm2 by studying the Li+ 1s2s 3S→1s2p 3P transition, the Li D lines and the Li 2S1/2→3S1/2 transition, respectively. These data determine the difference in mean-square nuclear charge radius 25 times more accurately than electron scattering. Similarly, averaging the fine structure data from the same experiments gives 62 678.75 ± 0.55 MHz for the 7Li+ 1s2p 3P1–2 interval, in good agreement with theory. The results for the 6,7Li 2P fine structure intervals, 10 0.52.954 ± 0.049 and 10 053.154 ± 0.040 MHz, exceed computed values by 2 MHz and yield a splitting isotope shift, which is nearly a factor of 2 lower than a theoretical estimate.