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Phys. Rev. A 69, 021401 (2004) [4 pages]

Low-field orientation dependence of 3He relaxation in spin-exchange cells

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R. E. Jacob, J. Teter, and B. Saam
Department of Physics, University of Utah, 115 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-0830, USA

W. C. Chen and T. R. Gentile
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Stop 8461, 100 Bureau Drive, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA

Rapid Communication Received 30 September 2003; published 24 February 2004

We have observed a significant dependence of 3He longitudinal relaxation times in glass spin-exchange optical pumping (SEOP) cells due only to the physical orientation of the cell in a 3 mT (30 G) applied magnetic field. The cells had no previous exposure to higher fields or were thoroughly degaussed prior to being measured. The presence of rubidium metal and heating of the cells associated with the SEOP process is necessary to produce this low-field orientation dependence. Our data suggest that the magnetic relaxation sites at the glass wall involved here may be the dominant cause of wall relaxation in SEOP cells at any field.


©2004 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.69.021401
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.69.021401
PACS: 33.25.+k, 34.50.Dy, 75.60.-d, 75.70.Rf

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