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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Visualization of foreign atoms by optical magnetic-resonance imaging of Cs atoms

Kiyoshi Ishikawa, Satoshi Morii, Katsunari Enomoto, T. Yabuzaki

Published Feb 1, 2000• 7 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We perform optical magnetic-resonance (MR) imaging of Cs atoms that are polarized by the transfer from the polarized Xe or Rb atoms in a glass cell as well as by direct optical pumping. With MR images of Cs by alternate optical pumping and detection the distribution of polarized Xe or Rb of low gas pressure is observed in a weak magnetic field. We also discuss the effect of the spin-relaxation and the spin-exchange collisions between Cs, Xe, and Rb atoms on the spatial resolution of MR images of the diffusing Cs atoms.

DOI
10.1364/josab.17.000182

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We perform optical magnetic-resonance (MR) imaging of Cs atoms that are polarized by the transfer from the polarized Xe or Rb atoms in a glass cell as well as by direct optical pumping. With MR images of Cs by alternate optical pumping and detection the distribution of polarized Xe or Rb of low gas pressure is observed in a weak magnetic field. We also discuss the effect of the spin-relaxation and the spin-exchange collisions between Cs, Xe, and Rb atoms on the spatial resolution of MR images of the diffusing Cs atoms.
We present a detailed experimental analysis of Rb-polarization imaging in high-pressure gas cells. The Rb vapor in these cells is optically pumped by high-power diode-laser arrays. We present images for high (35 G) and low (4 G) magnetic fields and for different He and Xe buffer-gas mixtures. We demonstrate that high-field imaging provides an absolute measurement of the Rb-polarization distribution in the cell, based on the fact that a spin-temperature distribution of the hyperfine magnetic sublevels is established in high-pressure buffer gases. A survey of various mechanisms that broaden the Rb magnetic-resonance lines is presented. These broadening mechanisms determine the limits of the spatial resolution achievable for images of the Rb-polarization distribution.
We present detailed images of the Rb polarization in a high-pressure optical pumping cell. Images taken at high magnetic field strengths (≈37 G) yield precise information on the relative occupation probability of the hyperfine Zeeman sublevels. Low-field (⩽4 G) images yield very high resolution (less than 1 mm) maps of the spatial distribution of the Rb polarization. For optical pumping in the presence of high-pressure buffer gases, the measured populations of the hyperfine magnetic sublevels are shown to be well described by a spin temperature, even though the Rb–Rb spin exchange rate is much smaller than the rates of optical pumping or electron-randomizing Rb–Xe collisions in the buffer gas.
A new optical pumping scheme utilizing selective reflection is proposed and studied for the first time. This method enables us to observe the spin-polarization of atoms even at the high density, at which the pumping beam cannot be transmitted through a sample cell. Theoretical analysis shows that the light reflectivity at the glass-vapor interface is strongly dependent on the direction of the macroscopic magnetic moment of optical pumped atoms. Two types of demonstrating experiments are carried out with Cs and Rb vapors at the temperature ∼ 200°C. In the transverse pumping experiment with a modulated laser beam, asymmetry of the magnetic resonance signal with respect to the inversion of the magnetic field direction is observed as predicted by the theory. In the longitudinal pumping experiment, the transfer of a large amount of the magnetic moment by spin-exchange collisions is directly observed.
It has been demonstrated that optical pumping of alkali atoms (rubidium and cesium) results to a highly efficient indirect optical orientation of metastable He (2 3 S 1 ) atoms. However, in an attempt to perform the inverse experiment (i.e. to receive spin-polarization of alkali atoms upon optical pumping of metastable helium atoms) the result was quite unexpected: the magnetic resonance signal of Cs or Rb atoms was very weak (several hundred times weaker compared to conventional optical pumping of helium in the presence of cesium (rubidium)). We propose an explanation for the unusually small ratio of the magnetic resonance signals from Cs (Rb) and metastable He atoms under condition of optical orientation of He atoms. Except of Cs atoms we are the first to have observed magnetic resonance signals from atoms of 85 Rb and 87 Rb isotopes when using the indirect optical orientation in conditions of helium-rubidium gas discharge plasma. It is shown that the anomaly in the amplitude ratios of the observed MR signals can be explained by the unidirectional action of three different factors (the presence of a large nuclear spin of alkali atoms, depolarization of alkali atoms between collisions, and spin exchange between atoms of rubidium isotopes (for the He-Rb system).
The spectroscopic characteristics of the polarization of 129Xe nuclei in Xe gas by spin exchange with optically pumped Rb atoms is examined in high magnetic field. The high field Zeeman effect provides the spectral dispersion necessary to separate the effects of different light polarizations and incident wavelengths on the pumping cycle. Indirect detection of the D1 line in Rb using 129Xe nuclear magnetic resonance in combination with direct optical detection indicates that conventional container construction significantly decreases the efficiency of the 129Xe polarization. The decreased pumping efficiency is due to randomly polarized photons that can be eliminated by using containers with good optical quality windows. Study of these effects is facilitated by the large Zeeman shifts obtained with multi-tesla fields which resolve the D1 multiplet structure even in the presence of the significant pressure-broadening incells with typical gas pressures of 0⋅1-1 atm.