Recent results on hyperpolarized3He−4He 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.