A novel technique for the elimination of the hyperfine effect on the polarization of atomic line radiation

Abstract

The authors report measurements of the polarization of fluorescent radiation at 253.7 nm (61S0-63P1) from even isotopes of mercury which arises from the alignment caused by electron beam excitation. The salient feature of the experimental technique adopted is that the use of an isotope cell allowed the performance of the electron impact excitation on an atomic beam of natural isotopic composition instead of using separated isotopes. The cell containing enriched samples of the odd isotopes of mercury filtered the fluorescent radiation and so reduced the contribution to the signal arising from these isotopes in the natural mixture atomic beam. In this way the hyperfine effect on the measurement of the polarization of this atomic line radiation has been eliminated. The experimental results are in very good agreement with theoretical values.