Hyperfine structure and isotope shifts in natural vanadium

High-resolution crossed beam laser spectroscopy has been performed on an atomic beam of natural vanadium. The hyperfine structure was measured in highly resolved spectra for 25 transitions from the first metastable states, 3d(4)(a(5)D)4s a(6)D(J), to two high-lying multiplets, 3d(3)4s(a(5)F)4p z(6)D(J)(0) and 3d(3)4s(a(5)F)4p z(6)F(J)(0). This yielded the hyperfine A(J) and B(J) coefficients of 16 V-51 fine structure states, including the six previously unstudied levels in the z(6)F(J)(0) multiplet. Excellent agreement was found between these values and those obtained from;atomic beam magnetic resonance experiments for the metastable states. In addition, the hyperfine structure of V-50 was measured in eight transitions to the upper state multiplet z(6)D(J). This resulted in the evaluation of hyperfine coefficients for all 10 levels of the upper and lower states, previously unknown, as well as the first optical isotope shift measurements for vanadium.