Progress and Opportunity of Precision Laser Spectroscopy for the Study of Unstable Nuclei

The basic properties of atomic nuclei including spins, magnetic moments, electric quadrupole moments and charge radii, are sensitive probes to different aspects of exotic nuclear structure, and are also important to investigate the unrevealed nature of interaction between nucleons. Based on multidiscipline, laser spectroscopy is a unique tool to precisely measure the basic nuclear properties mentioned above in a nuclear-model independent way by measuring the hyperfine structure of atoms, ions, or molecules, which has played an important role in the study of exotic nuclear structures across the different regions of the nuclear chart. Basic principles of laser spectroscopy and various types of experimental devices are expounded after the brief history of the hyperfine structure. Furthermore, advantages of utilizing laser spectroscopy in the study of nuclear structure are briefly introduced by taking the radioactive neutron-deficient Pb region as an illustration. In addition, current condition of collinear laser spectroscopy setup has been systematically reviewed, together with the latest progress on collinear resonance ionization spectroscopy offline devices at Peking University. Finally, the developing status and ongoing plan of laser spectroscopy devices for current and future radioactive ion beam facilities in China have been put forward, and the broad prospects of laser spectroscopy in unstable nuclear properties and the fundamental symmetries based on molecular spectroscopy are interpreted.