Precision measurement of the 5 {sup 2}S{sub 1/2}- 4 {sup 2}D{sub 5/2} quadrupole transition isotope shift between {sup 88}Sr{sup +} and {sup 86}Sr{sup +}
We present a high-precision measurement of the isotope shift of the narrow quadrupole-allowed 5 {sup 2}S{sub 1/2}- 4 {sup 2}D{sub 5/2} transition in {sup 86}Sr{sup +} relative to the most abundant isotope {sup 88}Sr{sup +}. This was accomplished using high-resolution laser spectroscopy of individual trapped ions, and the measured shift is {Delta}{nu}{sub meas}{sup 88,86}=570.281(4) MHz. We also tested a recently developed and successful method for ab initio calculation of isotope shifts in alkali-metal-like atomic systems against this measurement, and our initial result of {Delta}{nu}{sub calc}{sup 88,86}=457(28) MHz is also presented. While the measurement and the calculation are in broad agreement, there is a clear discrepancy between them, and we believe that the specific mass shift was underestimated in our calculation. Our measurement provides a stringent test for further refinements of theoretical isotope shift calculation methods for atomic systems with a single valence electron.