Hybrid spin-exchange optical pumping of 3He

We demonstrate spin-exchange optical pumping of 3He using a "hybrid" K-Rb vapor mixture. The Rb atoms absorb light from a standard laser at 795 nm, then collisionally polarize the potassium atoms. Spin-exchange collisions of K and 3He atoms then transfer the angular momentum to the 3He with much greater efficiency than Rb-3He. For a K-rich vapor, the efficiency of the hybrid spin-exchange collisions approaches 1/4, an order of magnitude greater than achieved by pure Rb pumping. We present the first measurements of actual photon efficiencies (polarized nuclei produced per absorbed photon), and show that a new parasitic absorption process limits the total efficiencies for both hybrid and pure Rb pumping.     

Energy transport in high-density spin-exchange optical pumping cells

We present in situ measurements of temperatures inside multi-atmosphere spin-exchange optical pumping cells using Raman scattering from the N2 quenching gas. Under conditions usually prevailing in spin-exchange optical pumping experiments, we find that gas temperatures can be elevated hundreds of degrees above ambient, and that convection plays a very important role in the heat transport of the system.     

Feedback control for manipulating magnetization in spin-exchange optical pumping system

Control of magnetization plays an important role in the scientific and technological field of manipulating spin systems. In this work, we study the problem of manipulating nuclear magnetization in the spin-exchange optical pumping system, including accelerating the recovery of nuclear polarization and fixing it on a specific desired state. A real-time feedback control strategy is exploited here. We have also done some numerical simulations, with the results clearly demonstrating the effectiveness of our method, that the nuclear magnetization is able to be driven towards the equilibrium state at a much faster speed and also can be stabilized to a target state. We expect that our feedback control method can find applications in gyro experiments.     

Limits to the polarization for spin-exchange optical pumping of 3He

Based on measurements of the temperature dependence of 3He relaxation in a wide range of spin-exchange optical pumping cells, we report evidence for a previously unrecognized surface relaxation process. The relaxation rate was found to be linearly proportional to the alkali-metal density with a slope that exceeds the spin-exchange rate, which limits the polarization for current applications, including neutron spin filters, polarized targets, and polarized gas magnetic resonance imaging. We find that the magnitude of this excess relaxation can vary widely between cells, and that the variation is larger for cells of higher surface to volume ratio. We have observed 3He polarization as high as 81%, but further improvements require understanding the origin of this relaxation.     

流动系统中的激光增强固体和液体129Xe核磁共振信号

在流动系统中,用半导体阵列激光器在低磁场下抽运Cs原子,由自旋交换碰撞产生极化的129Xe气体,在SY80M核磁共振谱仪中,冻成固体和液体后的极化度分别为216%和145%,和相同条件下未光泵的129Xe极化度相比,分别增强6000和5000倍.为将激光增强固体和液体129Xe用于量子计算提供了基础和可能.并对输运和相变过程中极化损失作了讨论 关键词： 光泵 激光极化 核磁共振信号 光和原子相互作用     

Increasing the pump-up rate to polarize He gas using spin-exchange optical pumping method

In recent years, polarized ³He gas has increasingly been used as neutron polarizers and polarization analyzers. Two of the leading methods to polarize the ³He gas are the spin-exchange optical pumping (SEOP) method and the meta-stable exchange optical pumping (MEOP) method. At present, the SEOP setup is comparatively compact due to the fact that it does not require the sophisticated compressor system used in the MEOP method. The temperature and the laser power available determine the speed, at which the SEOP method polarizes the ³He gas. For the quantity of gas typically used in neutron scattering work, this speed is independent of the quantity of the gas required, whereas the polarizing time using the MEOP method is proportional to the quantity of gas required. Currently, using the SEOP method to polarize several bar-liters of ³He to 70% polarization would require 20−40 h. This is an order of magnitude longer than the MEOP method for the same quantity of gas and polarization. It would therefore be advantageous to speed up the SEOP process. In this article, we analyze the requirements for temperature, laser power, and the type of alkali used in order to shorten the time required to polarize ³He gas using the SEOP method.     

Generation of multiple orientation in an alkali vapour by intermediate optical pumping

Summary The generation of hyperfine, dipole and quadrupole orientations in an alkali vapour by means of optical pumping withD ₁ σ-polarized light is studied in an intermediate pumping approximation. Pumping equations are explicitly given for any alkali vapour in the case of white-light pumping and for cesium vapour (I=7/2) in the case of pumping with nonuniform spectrum light. The dependence of the steady-state multipole orientation on the pumping and relaxation characteristic parameters is discussed.

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Riassunto Si studia la generazione di orientamenti iperfini, dipolari e quadrupolari in vapore alcalino mediante pompaggio ottico con luce σ-polarizzataD ₁ in un'approssimazione di pompaggio intermedio. Le equazioni di pompaggio sono date esplicitamente per ogni vapore alcalino nel caso di pompaggio di luce bianca, e per vapore di cesio (I=7/2) nel caso di pompaggio con luce spettrale non uniforme. Si discute la dipendenza dell'orientazione multipolare dello stato stazionario dal pompaggio e dai parametri caratteristici di rilassamento.

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Резюме Исследуется получение сверхтонких дипольной и квадрупольной ориентации в щелочных парах с помощью накачкиD ₁ σ-поляризованным светом в приближении промежуточной накачки. В явном виде записываются уравнения накачки для любых щелочных паров в случае накачки белым светом, а для паров цезия (I=7/2) в случае накачки светом с неравномерным спектром. Обсуждается зависимость стационарной мультипольной ориентации от накачки и характерных параметров релаксации.

     

Nuclear orientation of Bi isotopes in a ferromagnetic BiMn compound

A method of low-temperature nuclear orientation of bulk amount of Bi was developed utilizing a ferromagnetic compound BiMn. The radioactive isotopes of Bi,²⁰⁷Bi and²⁰⁶Bi, were oriented by this method and the hyperfine field at Bi in BiMn was determined to be ±(940 _?130 ⁺¹⁸⁰ ) kOe. No reorientation effect was observed at the isomers in²⁰⁷Pb and²⁰⁶Pb around 30 mK. The E2/M1 multipole mixing ratios of several γ-transitions in²⁰⁶Pb were determined.     

Nuclear polarization by optical pumping in InP:Fe above liquid nitrogen temperature

Hyperpolarized nuclear spins are observed in optically pumped iron-doped InP from 70 K to 140 K. ³¹P NMR was carried out at 9.28 T (159.8 MHz) during optical excitation with circularly polarized light, using a laser diode (λ∼830 nm) as a source. The enhancement of the nuclear spin polarization by optical pumping at 70 K is estimated to be about 34 for those nuclei in the region of the sample absorbing light. This enhancement decreases with increasing temperature. As the direction of the enhanced nuclear spin polarization is found parallel or antiparallel to the travelling direction of the σ⁺ or σ⁻, the contact hyperfine interaction is dominant compared to the dipolar hyperfine interaction.     

Nuclear spins of76Rb and119Cs byβ radiation detected optical pumping

An optical pumping apparatus has been attached to the reconstructed ISOLDE on-line mass separator at CERN in order to obtain nuclear data of isotopes far fromβ stability. As first results the spins of⁷⁶Rb (T _1/2=36.8 s) and¹¹⁹Cs (T _1/2=37.7 s) have been determined byβ radiation detected optical pumping (β-RADOP) to beI=1 andI=9/2 respectively.     

Nuclear orientation and coincidence studies of118I and118Cs isotopes

Gamma-gamma coincidence and on-line nuclear orientation experiments have been done on¹¹⁸I^g(2–),¹¹⁸I^m(7–),¹¹⁸Cs^g(2–) and¹¹⁸Cs^m(8–). The activities were produced by 175 MeV^32,34S beams on⁹³Nb and the products passed through an isotope separator. Nuclear moments for the¹¹⁸I isomers are deduced. The decay scheme of¹¹⁸Te is given and various spin assignments made, particularly 1944.3 KeV (3–) and 957.3 KeV (o⁺). Equilibrium distortion of the¹¹⁸I ground state is discussed briefly.     

External cavity design of high-power diode laser for polarized helium-3 neutron spin filters based on spin-exchange optical pumping

Polarized neutron spin filters are being developed based on spin-exchange optical pumping. In the present study a high-power diode laser (85 W) was used to excite Rb atoms and the laser linewidth was narrowed using an external cavity. The optics in the external cavity were designed by ray tracing. The ray-trace calculations demonstrated that a doublet lens in front of the laser eliminates aberrations. The maximum spectral peak height in the doublet optics was found to be 25% higher than for a singlet lens.     

Interdependence of in-cell xenon density and temperature during Rb/129Xe spin-exchange optical pumping using VHG-narrowed laser diode arrays

The (129)Xe nuclear spin polarization (P(Xe)) that can be achieved via spin-exchange optical pumping (SEOP) is typically limited at high in-cell xenon densities ([Xe](cell)), due primarily to corresponding reductions in the alkali metal electron spin polarization (e.g. P(Rb)) caused by increased non-spin-conserving Rb-Xe collisions. While demonstrating the utility of volume holographic grating (VHG)-narrowed lasers for Rb/(129)Xe SEOP, we recently reported [P. Nikolaou et al., JMR 197 (2009) 249] an anomalous dependence of the observed P(Xe) on the in-cell xenon partial pressure (p(Xe)), wherein P(Xe) values were abnormally low at decreased p(Xe), peaked at moderate p(Xe) (~300 torr), and remained surprisingly elevated at relatively high p(Xe) values (>1000 torr). Using in situ low-field (129)Xe NMR, it is shown that the above effects result from an unexpected, inverse relationship between the xenon partial pressure and the optimal cell temperature (T(OPT)) for Rb/(129)Xe SEOP. This interdependence appears to result directly from changes in the efficiency of one or more components of the Rb/(129)Xe SEOP process, and can be exploited to achieve improved P(Xe) with relatively high xenon densities measured at high field (including averaged P(Xe) values of ~52%, ~31%, ~22%, and ~11% at 50, 300, 500, and 2000 torr, respectively).     

Comparative study of in situ N2 rotational Raman spectroscopy methods for probing energy thermalisation processes during spin-exchange optical pumping

Spin-exchange optical pumping (SEOP) has been widely used to produce enhancements in nuclear spin polarisation for hyperpolarised noble gases. However, some key fundamental physical processes underlying SEOP remain poorly understood, particularly in regards to how pump laser energy absorbed during SEOP is thermalised, distributed and dissipated. This study uses in situ ultra-low frequency Raman spectroscopy to probe rotational temperatures of nitrogen buffer gas during optical pumping under conditions of high resonant laser flux and binary Xe/N₂ gas mixtures. We compare two methods of collecting the Raman scattering signal from the SEOP cell: a conventional orthogonal arrangement combining intrinsic spatial filtering with the utilisation of the internal baffles of the Raman spectrometer, eliminating probe laser light and Rayleigh scattering, versus a new in-line modular design that uses ultra-narrowband notch filters to remove such unwanted contributions. We report a ~23-fold improvement in detection sensitivity using the in-line module, which leads to faster data acquisition and more accurate real-time monitoring of energy transport processes during optical pumping. The utility of this approach is demonstrated via measurements of the local internal gas temperature (which can greatly exceed the externally measured temperature) as a function of incident laser power and position within the cell.     

Nuclear orientation by anisotropic collisions

The anisotropic interaction of fast ions with atoms or a solid results in an orientation of the spatial distribution of the orbital angular momenta of excited electronic levels. This orientation of the electronic shell is transfered via hyperfine (hf) interaction to the nuclei and a vector polarization of the nuclear spins is observed. Since this kind of fast beam interaction generates an anisotropy in a rather general way, this technique seems to provide a universal source for polarized ions. General concepts of this type of interaction are discussed, and the applications to produce nuclear spin polarized ions and future developments in this field are outlined.     

Resonances of orientation and alignment of atoms in the case of inclined optical pumping

It is shown that, with pumping inclined relative to a constant magnetic field H₀, the radio-frequency (RF) magnetic field rotating at frequency Ω induces new resonances ω₀ = γ H ₀ and 2Ω for the Fourier components of orientation and ω₀ = ?Ω, Ω/2, 3Ω/2, 2Ω, and 3Ω for the components of alignment. New resonances excited by the oscillating RF field are also considered.     

On-line orientation of bromine isotopes

Assignments for the principal Nilsson configuration in light β⁺-decaying bromine isotopes were proposed in a contribution to the OLNO-1 conference. These assignments were made on the basis of magnetic moments derived from the temperature dependence of anisotropies in daughter Se isotopes observed in the DOLIS-COLD facility at Daresbury. Anisotropy measurements have since been extended to a lower base temperature in^74m Br and^72g Br decay, leading to more stringent limits on the ground state moment of⁷²Br. The proposed π[312]3/2 configuration for⁷⁵Br has also now been confirmed by a measurement of the sign of its magnetic moment. This was done by observing the β-asymmetry in⁷⁵Br decay using high purity Si detectors mounted within the dilution refrigerator.     

Implementation of the inverse radon transform by optical convolution

The implementation of the inverse radon transformed by optical correlation is described. This method described does not require formation of the derivative of the projections and allows the use of a fixed mask that is both real and positive and is dependent only on the geometry of the recording system. Experimental confirmation of the concept is included.