PPPL-4020 is available in <a href="PPPL-4020.pdf">pdf</a> format (700 KB).

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<b>Measurement of Asymmetric Optical Pumping of Ions Accelerating in a Magnetic-field Gradient</b>
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<b>Authors:</b> Xuan Sun, Earl Scime, Mahmood Miah, Samuel Cohen, and Frederick Skiff
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<b>Date of PPPL Report:</b> October 2004
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<b>Submitted to:</b> Physical Review Letters</p>


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We report observations of asymmetric optical pumping of argon ions accelerating in a magnetic field gradient. The signature is a difference in the laser-induced-fluorescence (LIF) emission amplitude from a pair of Zeeman-split states. A model that reproduces the dependence of the asymmetry on magnetic-field and ion-velocity gradients is described. With the model, the fluorescence intensity ratio provides a new method of measuring ion collisionality. This phenomenon has implications for interpreting stellar plasma spectroscopy data which often exhibit unequal Zeeman state intensities.



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