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Physical Review A

Measurement of the collisional depolarization cross section of the silver 5P122 state by helium

M. Soltanolkotabr, R. Gupta

Published Apr 1, 1984• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We have measured the cross section for depolarization of the $5^{2}P_{\frac{1}{2}}$ state of silver atoms by collisions with helium atoms using the Hanle-effect technique. We find the nuclear-spin-independent cross section to be $\ensuremath{\sigma}=1.2\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.15\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}16}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$, significantly smaller than the corresponding cross sections in rubidium and cesium. This is the first measurement of this quantity in any noble-metal atom.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.29.1832

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