Relaxation of Spin Polarisation of Sodium Vapor due to Sodium-Xenon Van Der Waals Molecules.

Edward M. Mattison

William E. Cooke

Stephen J. Kadlecek

X. Zeng, Z. Wu, T. Call +3 more

By analyzing the measured spin-relaxation transients of $^{129}\mathrm{Xe}$ nuclear spins and alkali-metal-atomic spins in mixtures of alkali-metal-atom vapors, Xe gas, and larger amounts of ${\mathrm{N}}_{2}$ gas, we have determined the three-body formation rates and the spin-transfer probabilities for alkali- metal--noble-gas van der Waals molecules. Three parameters, in addition to the spin quantum numbers of the alkali-metal and noble-gas nuclei, are needed to predict the spin-transfer rates. These parameters, which we have determined from experimental measurements, are x=\ensuremath{\gamma}N/\ensuremath{\alpha}, the ratio of the spin-rotation interaction \ensuremath{\gamma}N to the spin-exchange interaction \ensuremath{\alpha}; ${p}_{0}$, the third-body pressure for which the molecular breakup rate ${\ensuremath{\tau}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}1}$ is equal to the spin-rotation frequency \ensuremath{\gamma}N/h; and Z, the three-body rate constant for forming van der Waals molecules.

F. A. Franz, C. H. Volk

Anomalous modes of electronic-spin relaxation of optically pumped Rb atoms observed in He and Ne buffer gases may result from the modification of the Rb hyperfine interaction, induced by the formation of Rb-He and Rb-Ne Van der Waals molecules. Isolation of anomalous effects also resolves disagreements in cross sections previously reported for the spin relaxation of Cs in Ne.

W. Bruce Hawkins, Robert Henry Dicke