Nuclear electric quadrupole moment of 6Li

The molecular beam electric resonance technique has been used to examine the hyperfine spectrum of ⁶Li¹⁹F for the purpose of obtaining an improved value of the ratio of the electric quadrupole moments of the two lithium nuclei. A total of 29 transitions in vibrational states 0-2 and rotational states 1-4 have been included in a fit to determine the Li nuclear quadrupole interaction along with the magnetic spin-rotation and spin-spin interactions. The magnetic interactions are consistent with values calculated from the previously reported ⁷Li¹⁹F values, but those have been refitted to take advantage of the new information from ⁶Li¹⁹F. The electric quadrupole moment ratio of the two lithium isotopes determined from measurements on the two forms of LiF is Q(⁶Li)/Q(⁷Li)=0.020161+/-0.000013 (one standard deviation estimate).