Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2504.19713

Measurement of the total spin angular momentum of alkali-metal atoms

Runa Yasuda·Kei Ishii·Wolfgang Klassen·Jeffery W. Martin·Atsushi Hatakeyama
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

It is important to evaluate the total spin angular momentum of alkali-metal atoms if the atoms serve as a reservoir of angular momenta. We use an absorption-monitoring technique to measure , i.e., the expectation values of the quantization (z) axis components of the total angular momentum of cesium (Cs) atoms in the electronic ground state in both uncoated and anti-relaxation-coated vacuum cells at room temperature. Cs atoms are polarized via optical pumping and probed using their D2 transitions. The probe laser frequency is varied across the Doppler-broadened D2 transition; the values are derived using the integrated absorption coefficients. The largest is 2.5 for the coated cell. We then use a simple model of spin flow through vapor cells to estimate the atomic spin relaxation probabilities after a single surface collision.

Explore related subjects

physics.atom-ph

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Runa Yasuda, Kei Ishii, Wolfgang Klassen, Jeffery W. Martin, Atsushi Hatakeyama. 2025-04-28. Measurement of the total spin angular momentum of alkali-metal atoms. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.111.033111

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Effective Conservation and Bistability of Atomic Alignment under Strong Spin~Exchange

We present a phenomenological model of anomalous alignment signals in dense cesium vapor under linearly polarized pumping and fast spin exchange near zero magnetic field. Despite the absence of a conservation law for rank-2 angular momentum, our recent experiments reveal anisotropic narrow resonances, hysteresis, and bistability. We attribute these effects to a stretched state forming a collective mode in which orientation and alignment are bidirectionally coupled. This mode acts as a reservoir, preserving the essential properties of alignment despite rapid spin exchange.

physics.atom-ph↗
arXiv2026

$LS/LSJ$ Hybrid Coupling Framework for Auger Angular Distributions of Experimentally Unresolved Multiplets with Isolated Fine-Structure

We present a hybrid $LS/LSJ$ coupling framework for treating state multiplets in the regime $ΔE_\text{int}\sim\hbar/τ_\text{int} \ggΔE_\text{FS}\ggΓ$, where $τ_\text{int}$ is the collision interaction time, $ΔE_\text{FS}$ the fine-structure splitting, and $Γ$ the natural width. In this regime, the collision interaction is fast compared with fine-structure evolution, whereas the individual $J$ levels are well isolated on the scale of their natural widths. The produced multiplet's alignment is therefore described in $LS$ coupling and then projected onto the individual fine-structure $J$ levels before their subsequent decay, described by $LSJ$ coupling. Applied to the multi-open-shell $1s2s2p\,^4\!P_J$ manifold, which closely satisfies these conditions, the hybrid treatment reveals strong suppression and inversion of the Auger angular-distribution anisotropy relative to the traditional pure-$LS$ treatment. It substantially improves agreement with absolute experimental data while using the same $LS$ production cross sections. This hybrid $LS/LSJ$ framework thus provides the appropriate treatment of state multiplets with isolated fine-structure levels, as it retains the $J$-dependent decay dynamics missing from the traditional pure-$LS$ treatment.

physics.atom-ph↗
arXiv2026

Optical Ion Clock with Engineered Immunity to Motion-Induced Frequency Shifts

Spectroscopic frequency shifts due to residual motion of the probed atoms significantly contribute to the uncertainty budgets of state-of-the-art optical ion clocks. For clock transitions with second-order Doppler and quadratic Stark shifts of opposite signs, it is possible to configure electrodynamic ion confinement such that these two shift effects become anticorrelated causing zero net shift. Here, we introduce a spectroscopic interrogation protocol which leads, for systems with unknown and varying motional energy gain rates, to first-order auto-suppression of corresponding frequency shifts without requiring the opposite-sign configuration. We experimentally demonstrate the proposed method on a new ytterbium ion optical clock probing the 467 nm electric octupole (E3) transition, where the combined fractional uncertainty contribution from motion-induced frequency shifts is reduced from $1.3\times10^{-18}$ to $0.3\times10^{-18}$. An interleaved optical frequency ratio measurement against ytterbium's electric quadrupole transition (E2) at 435 nm delivers an E3/E2 frequency ratio of $0.932 \,829 \,404 \,530 \,965 \, 340 (39)$. Combined with previously published ratio data this leads to a limit for a potential fractional temporal variation of the fine-structure constant of $2.4 (2.7) \times 10^{-19}/$yr, in agreement with existing bounds.

physics.atom-ph↗