AMOP Seminar

Prof. Jonathan Weinstein, Department of Physics, University of Nevada

"Optical pumping of atoms in solid parahydrogen"

4:00pm, RLM 11.204

Abstract: Gas-phase atoms and molecules are wonderful resources for many applications: sensors, quantum simulators, and fundamental physics experiments. By implanting atoms into a solid-phase host, one can achieve higher numbers, higher densities, and superb localization, but typically at a great cost: the properties of the implanted atoms are altered to an extent that they are no longer experimentally useful. Some notable exceptions to this rule are NV centers in diamond, rare-earth-ion doped crystals, phosphorus donors in silicon, and atoms in solid and superfluid helium. We are investigating solid hydrogen as a promising alternative host matrix. We grow parahydrogen crystals doped with rubidium atoms and optically pump and detect the rubidium's spin state. The longitudinal spin relaxation lifetime is longer than what was achieved in helium, at dopant densities eight orders of magnitude higher. Applications will be discussed, and audience speculation will be solicited.