title: Magnetic slowing down of spin relaxation due to binary collisions of alkali-metal atoms with buffer-gas atoms.
abstract: We report the first studies of magnetic decoupling of the spin relaxation of alkali-metal atoms due to binary collisions with buffer gases. When binary collisions are the dominant relaxation mechanism, the relaxation and its magnetic decoupling are well described by the S-damping rate Gamma(SD) due to the spin-rotation interaction gammaN.S, the spin exchange rate Gamma(EX) for collisions between alkali atoms, and a new "Carver rate" Gamma(C), due to the pressure-shift interaction deltaAI.S, which can substantially broaden the magnetic decoupling curve while having no influence on the zero-field rates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: W M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Griffith
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Happer