High-field measurement of the129Xe−Rbspin-exchange rate due to binary collisions

Abstract

We have measured the binary spin-exchange rate coefficient for collisions between Rb and ${}^{129}\mathrm{Xe}$ atoms at a magnetic field $B=9.4\mathrm{T}$ and in the temperature range $160<T<200\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}\mathrm{C}.$ The longitudinal spin-relaxation rate ${1/T}_{1}$ of ${}^{129}\mathrm{Xe}$ is dominated by ${}^{129}\mathrm{Xe}\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{Rb}$ binary collisions. We measured ${1/T}_{1}$ using the methods of conventional nuclear magnetic resonance, with no spin enhancement by optical pumping. At the high magnetic field and large gas pressures used in this work, the contribution of ${}^{129}\mathrm{Xe}\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{Rb}$ molecules to the spin-exchange rate was less than 0.1% of the binary-collision rate. The Rb atomic number density [Rb] was measured directly from the large Faraday rotation of the polarization of near-resonant light passing through the sample cells. The rate coefficient is $\ensuremath{\kappa}{=d(1/T}_{1})/d[\mathrm{Rb}]=(1.75\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.12)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}16}{\mathrm{cm}}^{3}/\mathrm{s}.$