Isotope shift of the 3 2S1/2−2 2S1/2 transition in lithium and the nuclear polarizability

Abstract

High precision calculation of the isotope shift of the 3 2S1/2−2 2S1/2 transition in lithium is presented. The wave function and matrix elements of relativistic operators are obtained by using recursion relations. Apart from the relativistic contribution, we obtain the nuclear polarizability correction for 11Li. The resulting difference of the squared charge radii 11Li−7Li based on the measurements of Sánchez et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 033002 (2006)] is δr2ch=0.157(81) fm2, which significantly differs from the previous evaluation.