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Review of Scientific Instruments

Optical pumping of a He(23S) metastable atom beam using a diode laser

Christopher D. Wallace, David Bixler, T. J. Monroe, F. B. Dunning, G. K. Walters

Published Jan 1, 1995• 9 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Use of a commercial 1.083 μm laser diode to optically pump a collimated He (23S) metastable atom beam is described. Stable, efficient optical pumping is achieved resulting in polarizations that approach 100%.
DOI
10.1063/1.1145270

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Review of Scientific Instruments•Sep 1, 1982•8 citations
A commercial Spectra Diode Laboratories, 1.083 μ\muμm diode laser has been used to efficiently spin polarize an atomic beam of He(2$\sp3$S) metastable atoms by optical pumping on the $\rm 2\sp3S\sb1\rightarrow2\sp3P\sb1$ (D1) transition. The diode laser is an InGaAs/GaAs strained multiquantum well with a distributed Bragg reflector to insure single longitudinal mode operation. The laser has been frequency stabilized to less than 1 MHz/hr drift. The helium metastable atom beam is produced by electron impact and the polarization is measured using a Stern-Gerlach analyzer. Atomic polarizations exceeding 97% have been obtained with $\sim$25 mW of power from the diode laser. A number of experiments currently under construction may also make use of the diode laser. These include the production of a spin polarized helium ion beam by optically pumping the metastable atoms in an rf discharge, and the trapping of helium metastable atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT).
Diode laser optical pumping to produce a highly spin-polarized metastable He beam to be used in a spin-polarized metastable atom deexcitation spectroscopy experiment on magnetized surfaces is described. Efficient pumping of the beam is performed by means of an SDL-6702 distributed Bragg reflector diode laser which yields 50 mW of output power in a single longitudinal mode at 1083 nm, the resonance wavelength for the 23 S→23 P0,1,2 (D0, D1, and D2) transitions of He*. The light is circularly polarized by a quarter-wave plate, allowing easy change of the sense of atomic polarization. The laser frequency can be locked to the atomic transition for several hours by phase-sensitive detection of the saturated absorption signal in a He discharge cell. Any of the three transitions of the triplet system can be pumped with the laser but the maximum level of atomic polarization of 98.5% is found pumping the D2 line.
Optical pumping is an efficient method for creating nuclear polarization M in a gas of 3He. M is first achieved in the metastable 23S state and then transfered to the ground state. Polarized 3He has numerous applications: quantum fluids, precision magnetometry, nuclear targets, etc. Much progress in achieving high values of M has resulted from the development of efficient IR lasers capable of exciting the 23S–23P3He transition at 1.08 μm. Using a novel lamp pumped LNA laser delivering 5 W cw, we have achieved M >85% for samples in the torr pressure range. To measure M we have developed an accurate technique based on the change as a function of M of the ratio between σ and π polarized light absorbed from a weak; probe beam by the 23S metastable atoms. The probe was delivered by a single mode tunable diode pumped LNA laser that was frequency modulated by using an étalon mounted on a galvoplate. M was also measured by monitoring the circular polarization of the 668 nm line emitted by the dis charge. Experimental and theoretical results on the optimization of the pumping will be presented, and the laser systems will be discussed.