Measurement of isotope shifts, fine and hyperfine structure splittings of the lithium D lines

The lithium D lines were studied using a diode laser that was frequency modulated by an electro-optic modulator, to excite an atomic beam. The transmission of part of the laser beam through an etalon was monitored to correct for the nonlinearity of the laser scan. The results for the Li-6,Li-7 2S(1/2) and 2P(1/2) hyperfine splittings agree very well with the best existing data while those for the D1 isotope shift and Li-6,Li-7 fine structure splittings disagree significantly from data obtained by a previous laser atomic beam experiment. Our result for the D1 isotope shift is very close to the latest value computed using Hylleraas variational theory.