Spin Relaxation of Optically Pumped Cesium

Abstract

Spin relaxation of optically pumped cesium vapor has been measured as a function of buffer gas pressure for various inert gases. Disorientation cross sections have been found to be 5.3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}24}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ for neon, 8.0\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}23}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ for argon, 2.1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}21}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ for krypton, and 4.6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\ensuremath{-}20}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ for xenon. The diffusion coefficients of cesium in neon and argon were found to be 0.40 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$/sec and 0.23 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$/sec, respectively. Disorientation cross sections and diffusion coefficients for molecular ${\mathrm{N}}^{14}$ and ${\mathrm{N}}^{15}$ have also been measured.