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Physical Review

Hyperfine Effects on the Polarization of Lyman- α Quench Radiation

J. Casalese, E. Gerjuoy

Published Apr 5, 1969• 20 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The polarization fraction of radiation from atomic hydrogen prepared in the metastable 2S state and quenched in a small static electric field is calculated in first-order perturbation theory. The calculation includes the electron spin-orbit coupling and the electron-proton spin-coupling interactions. Including the hyperfine effects brings the predicted polarization closer to the observed, but the theoretical results still are slightly outside the experimental error limits.

DOI
10.1103/physrev.180.327

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arXiv:2005.13501•Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Sep 9, 2020•0 citations
The polarization fraction of radiation from atomic hydrogen prepared in the metastable 2S state and quenched in a small static electric field is calculated in first-order perturbation theory. The calculation includes the electron spin-orbit coupling and the electron-proton spin-coupling interactions. Including the hyperfine effects brings the predicted polarization closer to the observed, but the theoretical results still are slightly outside the experimental error limits.
The polarizations of Lyman-$\ensuremath{\alpha}$ radiation produced (i) by electron impact on atomic and molecular hydrogen and (ii) by electric field quenching of metastable 2S2S2S hydrogen atoms have been measured. The polarization analyzer was a LiF crystal set at the Brewster angle, with reflected radiation being detected by an iodine-vapor photon counter. Generally good agreement between the measured polarization fractions and recent theoretical predictions was found. The radiation produced by quenching metastable atoms in an electric field was found to be polarized with a polarization fraction of -0.30\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02, which compares with the theoretical value -0.323.
This paper examines two theoretical aspects of the measurement of polarization of the quenched radiation which comes from the application of a weak electric field to the 2s2s2s state of hydrogen. Specifically, it outlines the justification of the Bethe-Lamb phenomenological analysis of this problem from the external field approximation of quantum electrodynamics. Further, it includes the lowest-order effects of the JJJ-breaking part of the hyperfine structure in Rayleigh-Schr\"odinger perturbation theory. While it was expected that these terms would contribute to the polarization fraction a correction to the lowest order of the relative size of the ratio of the hyperfine splittings to the fine-structure splitting of the n=2n=2n=2 state or about one part in 103{10}^{3}103, cancellations occur and these JJJ-breaking terms give a correction in the fourth place of the polarization fraction.
The linear polarization of Lyman-\ensuremath{\alpha} radiation emitted when hydrogen atoms in the metastable 2s1/2{\mathit{s}}_{1/2}s1/2​ state traverse an external electric field is studied as a function of the effective rise time of the field for field strengths extending from very small values up to 6 keV/cm. With decreasing rise time, the measured polarization exhibits a transition from adiabatic to sudden behavior. The transition region is centered at a rise time which is approximately equal to the characteristic time associated with the 2${\mathit{s}}_{1/2\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}}222{\mathit{p}}_{1/2}$ Lamb splitting in the unperturbed hydrogen system. The experimental data are well described by the results of a time-dependent theory.
Abstract We discuss the use of a region of uniform and constant magnetic field in order to implement a two-state atomic polarizer for an H(2S) beam. We have observed that a device with such field configuration is capable of achieving an efficient polarization for a wide range of magnetic field intensities and atomic velocities. In addition, we establish a criterion that must be met to confirm a successful polarization. That is possible due to a specific beating pattern for the Lyman- α radiation expected for the outgoing two-state atomic beam.