A fundamental limit to the efficiency of spin-exchange optical pumping of 3He nuclei

Abstract

We establish the existence of a fundamental limit to the efficiency of spin-exchange optical pumping of 3He nuclei by collisions with spin-polarized alkali-metal atoms. Using accurate ab initio calculations of molecular interactions and scattering properties, we show that the maximum 3He spin polarization that can be achieved in spin-exchange collisions with potassium (39K) and silver (107Ag) atoms is limited by the anisotropic hyperfine interaction. We find that spin exchange in Ag-He collisions occurs much faster than in K-He collisions, suggesting the possibility of using Ag in spin-exchange optical pumping experiments to increase the production rate of hyperpolarized 3He. Our analysis indicates that measurements of trap loss rates of 2S atoms in the presence of cold 3He gas may be used to probe anisotropic spin-exchange interactions in atom-He collisions.

5 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (4)

• Polarized 3He as a probe for short-range spin-dependent interactions
• Formation of van der Waals molecules in buffer gas cooled magnetic traps
• Production of long-lived atomic vapor inside high-density buffer gas
• Constraints on anomalous spin-spin interactions from spin-exchange collisions

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• Optically Polarized ${}^3$He
• Highly polar molecules consisting of a copper or silver atom interacting with an alkali-metal or alkaline-earth-metal atom
• The Development of High-Performance Alkali-Hybrid Polarized ${}^3\mathrm{He}$ Targets for Electron Scattering
• Spin-orbit interactions and quantum spin dynamics in cold ion-atom collisions
• Hyperfine-to-rotational energy transfer in ultracold atom-molecule collisions
• Spin coherence and optical properties of alkali-metal atoms in solid parahydrogen
• Cold collisions of polyatomic molecular radicals with S-state atoms in a magnetic field: An ab initio study of He + CH2(X) collisions
• Potential energy curves for the interaction of Ag(5s) and Ag(5p) with noble gas atoms
• Ultracold molecular collisions in magnetic fields: Efficient incorporation of hyperfine structure in the total rotational angular momentum representation
• Near-threshold scaling of resonant inelastic collisions at ultralow temperatures
• Hyperfine and Zeeman interactions in ultracold collisions of molecular hydrogen with atomic lithium
• Semiclassical Spin Exchange via Temperature-Dependent Transition States