Spin Relaxation of Optically Pumped Cesium

Spin relaxation of optically pumped cesium vapor has been measured as a function of buffer gas pressure for various inert gases. Disorientation cross sections have been found to be 5.3×${10}^{-24\mathrm{}}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^2$ for neon, 8.0×${10}^{-23\mathrm{}}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^2$ for argon, 2.1×${10}^{-21\mathrm{}}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^2$ for krypton, and 4.6×${10}^{-20\mathrm{}}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^2$ for xenon. The diffusion coefficients of cesium in neon and argon were found to be 0.40 ${\mathrm{cm}}^2$/sec and 0.23 ${\mathrm{cm}}^2$/sec, respectively. Disorientation cross sections and diffusion coefficients for molecular ${\mathrm{N}}^{14}$ and ${\mathrm{N}}^{15}$ have also been measured.