Polarization ofS122Ground State of Even Isotopes ofHg+by Stepwise Electron Impact

Abstract

The $6s^{2}S_{\frac{1}{2}}$ ground ionic state of even isotopes of mercury was polarized in a stepwise excitation process from the atomic $6{s}^{2}^{1}S_{0}$ ground state via the metastable $6s6p^{3}P_{2}$ state. The latter was optically pumped with polarized 5461-\AA{} ($6s7s^{3}S_{1}\ensuremath{-}^{3}P_{2}$) radiation. Paramagnetic resonance, observed by monitoring the change in intensity of the relatively intense 2851-\AA{} ($5{d}^{9}6{s}^{2}^{2}D_{\frac{5}{2}}\ensuremath{-}5{d}^{10}6s^{2}S_{\frac{1}{2}}$) electric quadrupole resonance radiation, was used to determine the polarization of the even-isotope ground-state ion to be 15%. If one assumes conservation of spin angular momentum, this process should yield highly polarized electrons.