Spin-polarizing [sup 3]He nuclei with an arc-lamp-pumped neodymium-doped lanthanum magnesium hexaluminate laser

Journal Article · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1993 · Physical Review A; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.47.456· OSTI ID:6898231

Gentile, T R; McKeown, R D ^[1]

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1. W. K. Kellogg Radiation Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125 (United States)

We report a systematic study of optical pumping of [sup 3]He nuclei by metastability exchange using an arc-lamp-pumped neodymium-doped lanthanum magnesium hexaluminate (Nd:LMA) laser. The laser produces 6 W at 1083 nm in a 1.5-GHz bandwidth and yields a substantial improvement in attainable nuclear polarization and pumping rates. Spin-polarized [sup 3]He has applications in several fields of physics; the focus in this article is on targets for nuclear physics, which require high pumping rates to maintain the highest polarization. We have studied the influence of the [sup 3]He pressure, pumping transition, discharge intensity and frequency, cell size and shape, and laser power on both the polarization and pumping rate. Under ideal conditions, we obtain 85% nuclear polarization. With pumping rates of 10[sup 18] (10[sup 19]) atoms/s, 82% (50%) polarization is obtained. We have found a pressure-dependent saturation of the increase in pumping rate with laser power. Based on our results, we discuss projections for the performance of both internal and external targets.

• OSTI ID: 6898231
• Journal Information: Physical Review A; (United States), Vol. 47:1; ISSN 1050-2947
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
HELIUM 3
OPTICAL PUMPING
SPIN ORIENTATION
ELECTRIC ARCS
METASTABLE STATES
NEODYMIUM LASERS
NUCLEI
POLARIZED TARGETS
YIELDS
CURRENTS
ELECTRIC CURRENTS
ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
ENERGY LEVELS
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
EXCITED STATES
HELIUM ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LASERS
LIGHT NUCLEI
ORIENTATION
PUMPING
SOLID STATE LASERS
STABLE ISOTOPES
TARGETS
664400* - Experimentally Derived Information on Atomic & Molecular Properties- (1992-)