General Method for Orienting Nuclei in Atoms withS01Ground States

We have oriented nuclei in free Cd atoms in a He buffer gas by an indirect process involving optical pumping of Rb atoms and subsequent transfer of orientation via ${\mathrm{Cd}}^{+}$ ions to Cd atoms by exchange collisions. The method may be used to orient a sizable density of any ${}_{}{}^1{}_{}{}^{}S_0^{}{}_{}{}^{}$ atomic system. Applications include studies of parity-nonconserving nuclear $\gamma$-decay asymmetries as well as magnetic-moment measurements.