Intrinsic impurities in glass alkali-vapor cells

We report NMR measurements of metallic (133)Cs in glass cells. The solid-liquid phase transition was studied by observing the NMR peaks arising from these two phases; surprisingly, many cells yielded two additional NMR peaks below the melting point. We attribute these signals to two distinct impurit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 99; no. 2; p. 027601
Main Authors Patton, B, Ishikawa, K, Jau, Y-Y, Happer, W
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 13.07.2007
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Summary:We report NMR measurements of metallic (133)Cs in glass cells. The solid-liquid phase transition was studied by observing the NMR peaks arising from these two phases; surprisingly, many cells yielded two additional NMR peaks below the melting point. We attribute these signals to two distinct impurities which can dissolve in the liquid alkali metal and affect its chemical shift. Intentional contamination of cesium cells with O(2) confirms this hypothesis for one peak. The other contaminant remains unknown but can appear in evacuated cells. Similar effects have been seen in (87)Rb cells.
ISSN:0031-9007
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.99.027601