Experimental determination of the rate constant for spin exchange in collisions of polarized metastable helium atoms with ground-state cesium atoms

Abstract

The rate constant for spin exchange in a system consisting of a metastable helium atom and an alkali-metal atom is determined. An experiment on optical orientation of atoms established that the rate constant for spin exchange in a collision of a metastable 23S1 helium atom with a cesium atom in the 62S1/2 ground state equals (2.8±0.8)×10−9 cm3 s−1. The rate constant for chemoionization of cesium atoms by metastable helium atoms was determined at the same time to be (1.0±0.3)×109 cm3s−1.