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Physical Review Letters

Nuclear Polarization by Intense Laser Pulses

Anonymous, Tao Li, Xu Wang

Published Sep 9, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Nuclear polarization plays an essential role in precision measurements, symmetry tests, and emerging quantum technologies, yet efficient polarization of heavy nuclei remains a major challenge. We propose an efficient, intense-laser-based approach that achieves high-efficiency polarization of heavy nuclei through the nonlinear interaction of circularly polarized femtosecond laser pulses with hydrogenlike ions. This scheme enables rapid transfer of angular momentum from light to the nucleus. Numerical simulations show that a single pulse can generate polarization exceeding 10%, while a pulse sequence can drive the system to near-unity polarization. The method is broadly applicable to heavy ions with large hyperfine splittings, as demonstrated for ^{229}Th, ^{205}Pb, and ^{209}Bi. The ability to produce near-complete polarization of large-spin nuclei and heavy ions opens new avenues for nuclear physics and nucleus-based quantum technologies.

DOI
10.1103/p7k8-mjn7

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Nuclear polarization plays an essential role in precision measurements, symmetry tests, and emerging quantum technologies, yet efficient polarization of heavy nuclei remains a major challenge. We propose an efficient, intense-laser-based approach that achieves high-efficiency polarization of heavy nuclei through the nonlinear interaction of circularly polarized femtosecond laser pulses with hydrogenlike ions. This scheme enables rapid transfer of angular momentum from light to the nucleus. Numerical simulations show that a single pulse can generate polarization exceeding 10%, while a pulse sequence can drive the system to near-unity polarization. The method is broadly applicable to heavy ions with large hyperfine splittings, as demonstrated for ^{229}Th, ^{205}Pb, and ^{209}Bi. The ability to produce near-complete polarization of large-spin nuclei and heavy ions opens new avenues for nuclear physics and nucleus-based quantum technologies.
We theoretically investigate the temporal dynamics of nuclear spin induced by short laser pulses. To realize ultrafast nuclear spin polarization, we coherently excite the hyperfine manifolds and let it evolve in time. An appropriate choice of the state with large hyperfine splittings allows us to realize ultrafast nuclear spin polarization. As specific examples, we consider the various isotopes of Mg and Ca with different values of nuclear spin (1/2, 3/2, 5/2, and 7/2) and show that 89%, 76%, 49%, and 36% of nuclear spin polarization can be achieved, respectively, within a few nanoseconds, which is at least 2 to 3 orders of magnitude shorter than the time needed for any known optical methods. Because of its ultrafast nature, our scheme would be very effective not only for stable nuclei but also unstable nuclei with a lifetime as short as 1 μs.
We discuss how nuclear spin can be highly polarized from the transfer of molecular rotational polarization via the hyperfine interaction, and how large atomic electronic polarization can be produced via molecular photodissociation with polarized light. In combination, these two pulsed-laser techniques can be used to produce highly polarized atoms at densities close to the density of the parent molecules. We compare these methods to existing methods for producing polarized atoms and present specific examples.
We have developed a general method to perform optical pumping by a pulsed laser with the aid of an optical cavity (cavity-assisted optical pumping). Optical pumping is achieved by repetitive interaction of a single laser pulse with a target material in the cavity. This method is demonstrated for manganese ions, Mn+{\text{Mn}}^{+}Mn+, stored in a linear radio-frequency ion trap; about 108{10}^{8}108 ions are spin polarized by a 5-ns laser pulse via ${^{7}P}_{J}\ensuremath{\leftarrow}{^{7}S}_{3}$ (J=3J=3J=3 or 4) transition in the ultraviolet region. The linewidth of the pulsed light source is broad enough to transfer the populations of lower hyperfine levels to the highest one (F=11/2)(F=11/2)(F=11/2) in the 7S3{^{7}S}_{3}7S3​ ground state; the nuclear spin is polarized as well.
Abstract Hyperpolarization of nuclear spins is crucial for advancing nuclear magnetic resonance and quantum information technologies, as nuclear spins typically exhibit extremely low polarization at room temperature due to their small gyromagnetic ratios. A promising approach to achieving high nuclear spin polarization is transferring the polarization of electrons to nuclear spins. The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has emerged as a highly effective medium for this purpose, and various hyperpolarization protocols have been developed. Among these, the pulsed polarization (PulsePol) method has been extensively studied due to its robustness against static energy shifts of the electron spin. In this work, we present a novel polarization protocol and uncover a family of magic sequences for hyperpolarizing nuclear spins, with PulsePol emerging as a special case of our general approach. Notably, we demonstrate that some of these magic sequences exhibit significantly greater robustness compared to the PulsePol protocol in the presence of finite half π pulse duration of the protocol, Rabi and detuning errors. This enhanced robustness positions our protocol as a more suitable candidate for hyper-polarizing nuclear spins species with large gyromagnetic ratios and also ensures better compatibility with high-efficiency readout techniques at high magnetic fields. Additionally, the generality of our protocol allows for its direct application to other solid-state quantum systems beyond the NV center.
Hyper-polarization of nuclear spins is crucial for advancing nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and quantum information technologies, as nuclear spins typically exhibit extremely low polarization at room temperature due to their small gyro-magnetic ratios. A promising approach to achieving high nuclear spin polarization is transferring the polarization of electron to nuclear spin. The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond has emerged as a highly effective medium for this purpose, and various hyper-polarization protocols have been developed. Among these, the pulsed polarization (PulsePol) method has been extensively studied due to its robustness against static energy shifts of the electron spin. In this study, we introduce a sequential polarization protocol and identify a series of magic and digital sequences for hyper-polarizing nuclear spins. Notably, we demonstrate that some of these magic sequences exhibit significantly greater robustness compared to the PulsePol protocol in the presence of finite half πππ pulse duration of the protocol. This enhanced robustness positions our protocol as a more suitable candidate for hyper-polarizing nuclear spins species with large gyromagnetic ratios and also ensures better compatibility with high-efficiency readout techniques at high magnetic fields. Additionally, the generality of our protocol allows for its direct application to other solid-state quantum systems beyond the NV center.
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.