Physics of Optically Pumped Alkali-Metal Atoms

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Happer
Keyword(s):  
Alkali Metal ◽  
Optically Pumped ◽  
Metal Atoms

scholarly journals A Synchronous Spin-Exchange Optically Pumped NMR-Gyroscope

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (20) ◽  
pp. 7099
Author(s):  
Susan S. Sorensen ◽  
Daniel A. Thrasher ◽  
Thad G. Walker
Keyword(s):  
Alkali Metal ◽  
Noble Gases ◽  
Spin Exchange ◽  
Noble Gas ◽  
Navigation Systems ◽  
Optically Pumped ◽  
Orientation Measurement ◽  
Metal Atoms ◽  
Optically Pumped Nmr ◽  
Measurement Units

Inertial navigation systems generally consist of timing, acceleration, and orientation measurement units. Although much progress has been made towards developing primary timing sources such as atomic clocks, acceleration and orientation measurement units often require calibration. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) gyroscopes, which rely on continuous measurement of the simultaneous Larmor precession of two co-located polarized noble gases, can be configured to have scale factors that depend to first order only on fundamental constants. The noble gases are polarized by spin-exchange collisions with co-located optically pumped alkali-metal atoms. The alkali-metal atoms are also used to detect the phase of precession of the polarized noble gas nuclei. Here we present a version of an NMR gyroscope designed to suppress systematic errors from the alkali-metal atoms. We demonstrate rotation rate angle random walk (ARW) sensitivity of 16μHz/Hz and bias instability of ∼800 nHz.

Polarization of the nuclear spins of noble-gas atoms by spin exchange with optically pumped alkali-metal atoms

1984 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 3092-3110 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Happer ◽  
E. Miron ◽  
S. Schaefer ◽  
D. Schreiber ◽  
W. A. van Wijngaarden ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alkali Metal ◽  
Spin Exchange ◽  
Noble Gas ◽  
Nuclear Spins ◽  
Optically Pumped ◽  
Metal Atoms
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