Wall relaxation of 3He in spin-exchange cells.
The 3He longitudinal spin-relaxation rate T1-1 is crucial for production of highly polarized 3He by spin-exchange optical pumping. We show that T1-1 is increased by a factor of 2-20 solely by exposure of spin-exchange cells to a few-kG magnetic field. The original T1-1 can be restored by degaussing the cell. The effect is attributed to magnetic surface sites and has been observed in both Pyrex and aluminosilicate-glass cells. Our results both advance the understanding of wall relaxation and demonstrate the use of 3He as an extremely sensitive probe of surface magnetism.
Jacob
R E
RE
Department of Physics, University of Utah, 115 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112-0830, USA.
Morgan
S W
SW
Saam
B
B
Leawoods
J C
JC