Study of the magnetic octupole moment of ¹⁷³Yb using collinear laser spectroscopy

The hyperfine constants of the $^3$P$^{\circ}_2$ state in neutral Yb have been measured using three different dipole transitions. This state was recently shown to have a comparatively large hyperfine magnetic octupole splitting, and thus a puzzlingly large magnetic octupole moment. The measurement is performed using collinear laser spectroscopy on a fast atomic beam, which provides a straightforward route to probing long-lived metastable atomic states with high resolution. From the combined analysis of all three lines we find no significant evidence for a non-zero octupole moment in $^{173}$Yb.