Optical measurement of <Superscript>3</Superscript>He nuclear polarization for metastable exchange optical pumping studies at high magnetic field

An accurate optical method to measure the nuclear polarization of ³He atoms in the 1¹S ground state is described. The absorption of a weak, probe laser beam is used to measure the relative populations of two hyperfine sublevels of the 2³S metastable state that are not addressed by the pumping laser beam. Since a common spin temperature between the ground and metastable states is established by metastable exchange collisions, the nuclear polarization can be derived from these absorption measurements. The method is highly sensitive, robust, and can be used to monitor the dynamics of optical pumping and relaxation processes without interfering with them. It was successfully implemented and tested in the 0.45–2.0 T magnetic field range at the ³He gas pressure up to 67 mbar.     

Metastability and superfluid fraction of the A-like and B phases of <Superscript>3</Superscript>He in aerogel in zero magnetic field

We report the low-frequency sound measurements of the metastable A-like (A*) phase of superfluid ³He confined within a 98% open aerogel matrix in zero magnetic field. The second soundlike (slow) mode provides an accurate determination of the superfluid fraction of (and the transition between) the A* and B phases. The A* and B phases exhibit stable coexistence in the presence of disorder, the ratio of their superfluid fractions (ρ _a ^A* /ρ _s ^B ) is much smaller than that of the bulk A and B phases, and argues that the A* and bulk A phases are distinct.     

Different formulations of <Superscript>3</Superscript>He and <Superscript>3</Superscript>H photodisintegration

Different momentum space Faddeev-like equations and their solutions for the radiative pd-capture and the three-nucleon photodisintegration of ³He are presented. Applications are based on the AV18 nucleon-nucleon and the Urbana IX three-nucleon forces. Meson exchange currents are included using the Siegert theorem. A very good agreement has been found in all cases indicating the reliability of the used numerical methods. Predictions for cross-sections and polarization observables in the pd-capture and the complete three-nucleon breakup of ³He at different incoming-deuteron/photon energies are presented.     

Analysis of <Superscript>4</Superscript>He+<Superscript>40</Superscript>Ca and <Superscript>4</Superscript>He+<Superscript>44</Superscript>Ti scattering using different optical model potentials

Elastic scattering of ⁴He+⁴⁰Ca and ⁴He+⁴⁴Ti reactions at backward angles has been analyzed using two differentmodels, microscopic and semimicroscopic folding potentials. The derived real potentials supplemented with phenomenological Woods–Saxon imaginary potentials, provide good agreement with the experimental data at energy E_c.m. = 21.8 MeV without need to renormalize the potentials. Coupledchannels calculations are used to extract the inelastic scattering cross section to the low-lying state 2+ (1.083 MeV) of ⁴⁴Ti. The deformation length is obtained and compared with the electromagnetic measurement values as well as those obtained from previous studies.     

Recent results on hyperpolarized<Superscript>3</Superscript>He−<Superscript>4</Superscript>He liquid mixtures

Laser optical pumping in low magnetic field provides very high nuclear polarizations in gaseous helium mixtures, and is used to prepare polarized liquid. Wall relaxation in glass cells is effiently reduced using cesium coatings, and bulk longitudinal relaxation times are measured. In highly magnetized samples, dipolar fields control the spin dynamics in anisotropic volumes and weak external magnetic field inhomogeneities. Long lived magnetostatic modes are observed by pulsed NMR. Detailed analysis of their frequency and damping gives information on magnetization density and spin diffusion coefficient in polarized mixtures. Experiments are performed above 0.2 K on mixtures with³He concentrations of order a few percents or larger. When phase separation occurs, the³He-rich phase retains a high polarization.     

Kinetics of the sorption of <Superscript>3</Superscript>He by C<Subscript>60</Subscript> fullerite. The quantum diffusion of <Superscript>3</Superscript>He and <Superscript>4</Superscript>He in fullerite

The kinetics of the sorption and subsequent desorption of gaseous ³He in a C₆₀ fullerite powder has been studied in the temperature range of 2–292 K. The temperature dependences of the diffusion coefficients of ³He and ⁴He impurities in fullerite have been plotted using the measured characteristic times of filling of octahedral and tetrahedral interstices, as well as previous data. These temperature dependences of the diffusion coefficients of ³He and ⁴He impurities in fullerite are qualitatively similar. A decrease in the temperature from 292 to 79 K is accompanied by a decrease in the diffusion coefficients, which corresponds to the dominance of the thermally activated diffusion of helium isotopes in fullerite. A further decrease in the temperature to 8–10 K leads to an increase in the diffusion coefficients by more than an order of magnitude. The diffusion coefficients of ³He and ⁴He are independent of the temperature below 8 K, indicating the tunnel character of the diffusion of helium in C₆₀ fullerite. The isotope effect is manifested in the difference between the absolute values of the diffusion coefficients of ³He and ⁴He atoms at the same temperatures.     

Applications of <Superscript>3</Superscript>He neutron detectors

Neutron detectors with ³He-filled proportional counters are described. The use of these detectors in measuring the probability of neutron emission (in particular, multiparticle neutron emission) after the β decay of neutron-rich nuclei and in studying rare events of spontaneous fission of superheavy nuclei is considered.     

Topological superfluid <Superscript>3</Superscript>He-B in magnetic field and ising variable

The topological superfluid ³He-B provides many examples of the interplay of symmetry and topology. Here we consider the effect of magnetic field on topological properties of ³He-B. Magnetic field violates the time reversal symmetry. As a result, the topological invariant supported by this symmetry ceases to exist; and thus the gapless fermions on the surface of ³He-B are not protected any more by topology: they become fully gapped. Nevertheless, if perturbation of symmetry is small, the surface fermions remain relativistic with mass proportional to symmetry violating perturbation—magnetic field. The ³He-B symmetry gives rise to the Ising variable I = ±1, which emerges in magnetic field and which characterizes the states of the surface of ³He-B. This variable also determines the sign of the mass term of surface fermions and the topological invariant describing their effective Hamiltonian. The line on the surface, which separates the surface domains with different I, contains 1 + 1 gapless fermions, which are protected by combined action of symmetry and topology.     

Momentum distributions of <Superscript>4</Superscript>He nuclei from the <Superscript>6</Superscript>He and <Superscript>6</Superscript>Li breakup

Experimental data on the momentum distributions of ⁴He nuclei originating from ⁶He and ⁶Li breakup on various targets are presented over a wide beam energy range. The experiment with ⁶He was performed at the DRIBs accelerator complex for radioactive beams at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR, Dubna). The intensity of the ⁶He beam used was 5 × 10⁶ particles per second and its energy was 10 MeV per nucleon. The momentum distributions of breakup products were measured by means of the MSP-144 magnetic spectrometer. The distribution width was shown to be virtually independent of the target mass. A small value of this width, σ ～ 28 MeV/c, confirms the presence of a halo in ⁶He. The measurements performed with ⁶Li beams of energy 18 and 46 MeV per nucleon at the U-400M accelerator yielded a width value of σ ～ 50 MeV/c for the momentum distributions of ⁴He nuclei, which is intermediate between that for ⁶He and those for stable nuclei. A compilation of the widths of the momentum distributions of fragments originating from the breakup of various nuclei is presented versus the binding energy of one or two neutrons in these nuclei, the target mass and the projectile energy.     

Interrelationship between the polarization moments of different parity upon optical pumping of atoms under the magnetic resonance conditions: I. Experiment on the <Superscript>133</Superscript>Cs and <Superscript>4</Superscript>He atoms

In an experiment with an optical pumping of ¹³³Cs atoms in the 6² S _1/2 ground state, the line shape of the D ^2f magnetic resonance signal for the transverse alignment component oscillating at a double frequency f of a radio-frequency (RF) magnetic field is found to strongly depend on the polarization of pumping radiation. On passage from a linearly polarized pumping light to a circularly polarized (CP) light with a sufficiently strong RF field the ordinary three-peak line with the highest central peak transforms into a two-peak line with a minimum at the center, so that the D ^2f signal line resembles the M ^f signal line of a transverse orientation oscillating at the RF field frequency f. This suggests that the orientation (the first-rank polarization moment (PM)) arising upon CP pumping affects the alignment (the second-rank PM); i.e., the PMs of Cs atoms with different parities of their ranks become coupled. No influence of the polarization of a pumping radiation on the line shape of the D ^2f signal is observed in a similar experiment with the ⁴He atoms in the 2³ S ₁ metastable state.     

Transverse and longitudinal nuclear magnetic resonance in superfluid <Superscript>3</Superscript>He in anisotropic aerogel

It is found that the properties of nuclear magnetic resonance of both superfluid phases of ³He in an anisotropic aerogel can be described in terms of the bulk superfluid order parameters with the orbital order parameter vector fixed by anisotropy of the aerogel sample. It is also shown that, by proper squeezing, it is possible to attain a sample with isotropic NMR properties.     

Crystallization and melting of spin-polarized<Superscript>3</Superscript>He

The melting and growth of³He crystals, spin-polarized by an external magnetic field, are different in nature depending on whether the temperature is higher or lower than the characteristic ordering temperatures in the crystal (the Neel temperatureT _N ) and in the liquid (the superfluid transition temperatureT _c ). In the high-temperature region (T≥T _N ,T _c ) the liquid which appears upon melting has a high nonequilibrium spin density. In the low-temperature region (T?T _N ,T _c ) the melting and growth are accompanied by spin supercurrents both in the liquid and in the crystal in addition to mass supercurrents in the liquid. The crystallization waves at the liquid-solid interface should exist in the low-temperature region. With increasing magnetic field the waves change in nature, because the spin currents begin to play a dominant role. The wave spectrum becomes linear with a velocity inversely proportional to the magnetic field. The attenuation of the waves at low enough temperatures is mainly due to the interaction of the moving crystal-liquid interface with thermal spin waves in the crystal. The waves could be weakly damped at temperatures below a few hundreds microkelvins.     

Appearance of anomalous phase in <Superscript>4</Superscript>He crystal in the presence of small <Superscript>3</Superscript>He impurity

The kinetics of formation of an anomalous phase from a solution with a small ³He impurity was studied in the temperature range 0.2–0.7 K up to a supersaturation of ～30 mbar. The phase diagram was determined for normal and anomalous growths. It is found that, in the presence of impurities, the formation of a fast-growing state is retarded. This experimental fact indicates that the dissipative processes in fluids have an appreciable effect on the phase formation kinetics. The retardation is, possibly, caused by the direct interaction of an impurity with the crystal surface.     

Neutron sensitivity and detection efficiency of <Superscript>3</Superscript>He and <Superscript>10</Superscript>BF<Subscript>3</Subscript> counters

An analytic relationship between the efficiency, sensitivity, and the coefficient of working-isotope utilization is established for gas-filled cylindrical thermal-neutron counters. This dependence is expressed in terms of the ratio of the characteristic length of a counter to its diameter. The characteristic size is introduced as the ratio of the total absorption cross section to the length of the counter. The parameters of basic ³He and ¹⁰BF₃ counters used in NM-64 neutron monitors are calculated.     

Structural and electronic transitions in gadolinium iron borate GdFe<Superscript>3</Superscript>(BO<Superscript>3</Superscript>)<Superscript>4</Superscript> at high pressures

The optical properties and structure of gadolinium iron borate GdFe₃(BO₃)₄ crystals are studied at high pressures produced in diamond-anvil cells. X-ray diffraction data obtained at a pressure of 25.6 GPa reveal a firstorder phase transition retaining the trigonal symmetry and increasing the unit cell volume by 8%. The equation of state is obtained and the compressibility of the crystal is estimated before and after the phase transition. The optical spectra reveal two electronic transitions at pressures ～26 GPa and ～43 GPa. Upon the first transition, the optical gap decreases jumpwise from 3.1 to ～2.25 eV. Upon the second transition at P=43 GPa, the optical gap deceases down to ～0.7 eV, demonstrating a dielectric-semiconductor transition. By using the theoretical model developed for a FeBO₃ crystal and taking into account some structural analogs of these materials, the anomalies of the high-pressure optical spectra are explained.     

Dynamic polarization potentials for <Superscript>6</Superscript>He + <Superscript>209</Superscript>Bi and <Superscript>11</Superscript>Li + <Superscript>208</Superscript>Pb systems at near-barrier energies

The Coulomb dipole induced dynamic polarization potentials for ⁶He + ²⁰⁹Bi and ¹¹Li + ²⁰⁸Pb systems within the framework of Feshbach’s formalism with a motive to ascertain the presence or absence of threshold anomaly have been studied. As a result of this study, the threshold anomaly has been found to be present for both systems. It has also been found that at deep sub-barrier energies the imaginary part either starts increasing or at least remains unchanged which indicates the presence of the breakup threshold anomaly. In addition, the Coulomb breakup transmission factors for both systems have been found to have maximum value below and near-barrier energies, but at very high energies due to closure of the breakup channel the breakup transmission coefficients quickly becomes zero.