Abney, J. | Search NASA

DOE OSTI2019

Limits on magnetically induced Faraday rotation from polarized He 3 atoms

Faraday rotation has become a powerful tool in a large variety of physics applications. Most prominently, Faraday rotation can be used in precision magnetometry. Here we report measurements of gyromagnetic Faraday rotation on a dense, hyperpolarized 3 He gas target. Here, theoretical calculations predict the rotations of linearly polarized light due to the magnetization of spin-1/2 particles on the scale of 10 –7 radians. To maximize the signal, a 3 He target designed to use with a multipass cavity is combined with a sensitive apparatus for polarimetry that can detect optical rotations on the order of 10 –8 radians. Although the expected results are well above the sensitivity for the given experimental conditions, no nuclear-spin-induced rotation was observed.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2015

A sensitive Faraday rotation setup using triple modulation

The utilization of polarized targets in scattering experiments has become a common practice in many major accelerator laboratories. Noble gases are especially suitable for such applications, since they can be easily hyper-polarized using spin exchange or metastable pumping techniques. Polarized helium-3 is a very popular target because it often serves as an effective polarized neutron due to its simple nuclear structure. A favorite cell material to generate and store polarized helium-3 is GE-180, a relatively dense aluminosilicate glass. In this paper, we present a Faraday rotation method, using a new triple modulation technique, where the measurement of the Verdet constants of SF57 flint glass, pyrex glass, and air was tested. The sensitivity obtained shows that this technique may be implemented in future cell wall characterization and thickness measurements. We also discuss the first ever extraction of the Verdet constant of GE-180 glass for four wavelength values of 632 nm, 773 nm, 1500 nm, and 1547 nm, whereupon the expected 1/λ{sup 2} dependence was observed.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗