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Polarizing He-3 by Spin Exchange with Potassium

Guodong Wang

Published Jan 1, 2004• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We present experimental studies on the spin-exchange optical pumping of 3He using alkali metal potassium vapor. High 3He polarizations are achieved using lower laser power than traditional rubidium-3He pumping studies. In addition, spin-exchange rate coefficient measurements for potassium-3He, rubidium-3He and cesium-3He pairs are reported. By spin-exchange optical pumping with potassium vapor, a high 3He polarization has been achieved in a mid-sized double-chamber glass target cell using only 5 watts of Ti:sapphire laser power. The spin-exchange rate coefficients of potassium-3He, cesium-3He and rubidium-3He pairs are measured and compared. The results are kSE = (4.0+/-0.3)E-20 cm3/sec for the potassium-3He pair, kSE = (6.5+/-0.4)E-20 cm3/sec for the rubidium-3He pair and kSE = (13.6 +/-1.3)E-20 cm3/sec for the cesium-3He pair. The results are consistent with theoretical predictions and confirm that the efficiency for spin-exchange polarization of 3He with potassium is significantly higher than with rubidium or cesium. The results motivate the development of high power diode lasers tuned to the appropriate potassium wavelengths. Applied to the production of polarized 3He as an atomic beam source for colliders, these developments could have significant impact on future studies of neutron spin structure. These studies may also have impact on magnetic resonance imaging using hyperpolarized 3He.

DOI
10.7907/69br-5g30.

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We present experimental studies on the spin-exchange optical pumping of 3He using alkali metal potassium vapor. High 3He polarizations are achieved using lower laser power than traditional rubidium-3He pumping studies. In addition, spin-exchange rate coefficient measurements for potassium-3He, rubidium-3He and cesium-3He pairs are reported. By spin-exchange optical pumping with potassium vapor, a high 3He polarization has been achieved in a mid-sized double-chamber glass target cell using only 5 watts of Ti:sapphire laser power. The spin-exchange rate coefficients of potassium-3He, cesium-3He and rubidium-3He pairs are measured and compared. The results are kSE = (4.0+/-0.3)E-20 cm3/sec for the potassium-3He pair, kSE = (6.5+/-0.4)E-20 cm3/sec for the rubidium-3He pair and kSE = (13.6 +/-1.3)E-20 cm3/sec for the cesium-3He pair. The results are consistent with theoretical predictions and confirm that the efficiency for spin-exchange polarization of 3He with potassium is significantly higher than with rubidium or cesium. The results motivate the development of high power diode lasers tuned to the appropriate potassium wavelengths. Applied to the production of polarized 3He as an atomic beam source for colliders, these developments could have significant impact on future studies of neutron spin structure. These studies may also have impact on magnetic resonance imaging using hyperpolarized 3He.
We report on measurements of the polarization for 3He{}^{3}\mathrm{He}3He using optically pumped potassium vapor. We achieve a 3He{}^{3}\mathrm{He}3He polarization greater than 40% in a mid-sized double-chamber glass target cell filled with 3He{}^{3}\mathrm{He}3He gas using a single Ti:sapphire laser. Applied to the production of polarized 3He{}^{3}\mathrm{He}3He as an atomic beam source for colliders, these developments could have significant impact on future studies of neutron spin structure. The results also motivate the development of high power diode lasers tuned to the appropriate potassium wavelengths.
We have studied the efficiency of spin-exchange optical pumping (SEOP) in cells that contain either pure rubidium, mixtures of rubidium and potassium, or pure potassium. Optical pumping was performed with spectrally narrowed diode array lasers operating at either the wavelength of the Rb $5{s}_{1∕2}\ensuremath{-}5{p}_{1∕2}$ transition (795nm)(795\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{nm})(795nm) or the K $4{s}_{1∕2}\ensuremath{-}4{p}_{1∕2}$ transition (770nm)(770\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{nm})(770nm). Calculations of the expected efficiency are shown for practical conditions and compared to measurements. We have measured the vapor density ratio in Rb-K mixture cells using absorption of white light. Our focus is on the conditions that are relevant for neutron spin filters, but the results are relevant to all applications of SEOP. We find that both Rb-K and pure K cells yield improvements in the spin-exchange efficiency, and each approach has its own advantages. Overall, the best results for high polarizing rate with high polarization were obtained with mixture cells with K-Rb vapor density ratios between 2 and 6.
The use of high-power ${\mathrm{Ga}}_{1\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}\mathit{x}}$Alx{\mathrm{Al}}_{\mathit{x}}Alx​As diode laser arrays for optical pumping of Rb vapor has been examined both theoretically and experimentally. Our studies show that large atomic polarizations can be obtained using the broad spectral output of a diode laser array if the Rb resonance line is collisionally broadened by several atmospheres of a buffer gas. The objective was to study the effectiveness of diode laser arrays as light sources for optically pumped spin-exchange polarized 3He^{3}\mathrm{He}3He targets. The average Rb polarization was deduced at three different Rb vapor pressures using the polarization induced in the 3He^{3}\mathrm{He}3He buffer gas. The largest 3He^{3}\mathrm{He}3He polarization observed was 53% using a 20-W diode array with 1.9-nm full width at half maximum spectral width in 10.5 amagat of 3He^{3}\mathrm{He}3He. This result compares favorably with other light sources for this target. The measured average Rb polarizations are compared to theoretical calculations.
An optically pumped atomic magnetometer using a hybrid cell of potassium and rubidium atoms was demonstrated to yield high sensitivity to magnetic fields. We operated the magnetometer with the four possible combinations of optically pumped and optically probed atoms and found that the combination of optically pumped potassium and optically probed rubidium showed the highest sensitivity among the four combinations because the rubidium atoms were denser than those of potassium. Furthermore, we investigated the dependence of the sensitivity on the power densities of the pump and probe beams and the wavelength of the probe beam. The magnetometer using the hybrid cell required higher pump-beam power and had narrower magnetic linewidth than those of the single alkali-metal cell. However, the magnetic linewidth was larger than the theoretical value, ignoring the spin relaxation caused by the spin-exchange collisions. By adjusting the laser conditions, the highest sensitivity approached 30 fTrms/Hz1/2.
Recently the demand for hyperpolarized noble gases is arising to improve NMR spectroscopy resolution for imaging. Hyperpolarization of noble gases is achieved by spin- exchange with alkali metal. atoms that undergo optical pumping by circularly polarized radiation. Optical pumping is usually achieved by high power semiconductor lasers. These sources have a bandwidth very large when compared with the transition bandwidth of the optically active species. This has two serious consequences: (i) the request of high power lasers, (ii) the losses that the unemployed energy delivered to the Rb vapor can provide in the efficiency of the energy transfer. Object of our investigation will be the comparison of two experimental set ups for optical pumping of Rb vapor where pumping is given in one case by a dye laser pumped by a UV nitrogen laser built in our laboratory according to the Blumlein scheme and in the other case by a semiconductor laser. Major elements that will be discussed are (1) the role of stimulated emission of Rb vapor to increase the pumping efficiency, (2) the fate of resonant photons that are emitted during Rb decays, (3) the role of applied magnetic fields in the efficiency of pumping processes.
We present a comprehensive theory of nuclear spin polarization of 3He{}^{3}\mathrm{He}3He and 129Xe{}^{129}\mathrm{Xe}129Xe gases by spin-exchange collisions with optically pumped alkali-metal vapors. The most important physical processes considered are (1) spin-conserving spin-exchange collisions between like or unlike alkali-metal atoms; (2) spin-destroying collisions of the alkali-metal atoms with each other and with buffer-gas atoms; (3) electron-nuclear spin-exchange collisions between alkali-metal atoms and 3He{}^{3}\mathrm{He}3He or 129Xe{}^{129}\mathrm{Xe}129Xe atoms; (4) spin interactions in van der Waals molecules consisting of a Xe atom bound to an alkali-metal atom; (5) optical pumping by laser photons; (6) spatial diffusion. The static magnetic field is assumed to be small enough that the nuclear spin of the alkali-metal atom is well coupled to the electron spin and the total spin is very nearly a good quantum number. Conditions appropriate for the production of large quantities of spin-polarized 3He{}^{3}\mathrm{He}3He or 129Xe{}^{129}\mathrm{Xe}129Xe gas are assumed, namely, atmospheres of gas pressure and nearly complete quenching of the optically excited alkali-metal atoms by collisions with N2{\mathrm{N}}_{2}N2​ or H2{\mathrm{H}}_{2}H2​ gas. Some of the more important results of this work are as follows: (1) Most of the pumping and relaxation processes are sudden with respect to the nuclear polarization. Consequently, the steady-state population distribution of alkali-metal atoms is well described by a spin temperature, whether the rate of spin-exchange collisions between alkali-metal atoms is large or small compared to the optical pumping rate or the collisional spin-relaxation rates. (2) The population distributions that characterize the response to sudden changes in the intensity of the pumping light are not described by a spin temperature, except in the limit of very rapid spin exchange. (3) Expressions given for the radio-frequency (rf) resonance linewidths and areas can be used to make reliable estimates of the local spin polarization of the alkali-metal atoms. (4) Diffusion effects for these high-pressure conditions are mainly limited to thin layers at the cell surface and at internal resonant surfaces generated by radio-frequency magnetic fields when the static magnetic field has substantial spatial inhomogeneities. The highly localized effects of diffusion at these surfaces are described with closed-form analytic functions instead of the spatial eigenmode expansions that are appropriate for lower-pressure cells.