Macroscopic production of spin-polarized hydrogen atoms from the IR-excitation and photodissociation of molecular beams

TL;DR

This paper presents methods to produce highly spin-polarized hydrogen atoms via IR-excitation and photodissociation of molecular beams, potentially surpassing conventional production rates by several orders of magnitude.

Contribution

It introduces novel optical excitation schemes with hyperfine resolution for efficient spin-polarized hydrogen atom production from molecular beams.

Findings

Production rates can approach 10^{21} photons s^{-1}

Methods can surpass conventional production rates of 10^{17} s^{-1}

Potential for high-efficiency spin polarization of hydrogen atoms

Abstract

We describe methods for the production of spin-polarized H and D atoms from the IR-excitation and photodissociation of molecular beams of HBr, HI, and ${\rm NH_{3}}$ isotopes, including optical excitation schemes with partial hyperfine resolution. We discuss the extent to which the production rates may approach the IR-laser production rates of ${\rm 10^{21}\, photons\, s^{-1}}$, and how the production rates of conventional methods of ${\sim}{\rm 10^{17} \, s^{-1}}$ may be surpassed significantly.