Measurement of Rb-Xe S­­­pin-Exchange Rate Coefficients for NMR Gyroscopes*

Determination of the spin-exchange rate coefficients between Xe nuclei and alkali-metal atoms is complicated due to various mechanisms of spin-exchange as formation and destruction of van der Waals molecules and binary collisions. There are a variety of conflicting measurements in the literature, recently reviewed by Kelley and Branca [1].  Measurements that rely on temperature dependences are potentially ambiguous due to the difficulty of isolating wall relaxation from the other processes.  We will summarize different methods for measuring spin-exchange rate coefficient without making assumptions about wall relaxation and we will present preliminary measurements of the Rb-Xe spin-exchange rate coefficient under typical conditions used in NMR gyroscopes [2].

 

1. M. Kelley and R. T. Branca, J. Appl. Phys. 129, 154901 (2021)

2. S. S. Sorensen, D. A. Thrasher, T. G. Walker, Appl. Sci. 10, 7099 (2020)