350710
Magnetocardiography with a modular spin-exchange relaxation-free atomic magnetometer array.
We present a portable four-channel atomic magnetometer array operating in the spin-exchange relaxation-free regime. The magnetometer array has several design features intended to maximize its suitability for biomagnetic measurement, specifically foetal magnetocardiography, such as a compact modular design and fibre-coupled lasers. The modular design allows the independent positioning and orientation of each magnetometer. Using this array in a magnetically shielded room, we acquire adult magnetocadiograms. These measurements were taken with a 6-11 fT Hz(-1/2) single-channel baseline sensitivity that is consistent with the independently measured noise level of the magnetically shielded room.
32501332
Hybrid spin-exchange optical pumping of 3He.
We demonstrate spin-exchange optical pumping of 3He using a "hybrid" K-Rb vapor mixture. The Rb atoms absorb light from a standard laser at 795 nm, then collisionally polarize the potassium atoms. Spin-exchange collisions of K and 3He atoms then transfer the angular momentum to the 3He with much greater efficiency than Rb-3He. For a K-rich vapor, the efficiency of the hybrid spin-exchange collisions approaches 1/4, an order of magnitude greater than achieved by pure Rb pumping. We present the first measurements of actual photon efficiencies (polarized nuclei produced per absorbed photon), and show that a new parasitic absorption process limits the total efficiencies for both hybrid and pure Rb pumping.
53521341
Cosmic microwave background constraint on residual annihilations of relic particles
Energy injected into the cosmic microwave background at redshifts z{approx} (equivalent to){sigma}{sub 0}, the bound is f(m{sub X}/MeV){sup -1}[({sigma}{sub 0}/6x10{sup -27} cm{sup 3}s{sup -1})({Omega}{sub X{bar X}}h{sup 2}){sup 2}]<0.2, where m{sub X} is the particle mass, {Omega}{sub X{bar X}} is the fraction of the critical density the particle and its antiparticle contribute if they survive to the present time, h=H{sub 0}/100 kms{sup -1}Mpc{sup -1}, H{sub 0} is the Hubble constant, and f is the fraction of the annihilation energy that interacts electromagnetically. We also compute the less stringent limits for p-wave annihilation. We update other bounds on residual annihilations and compare them to our CMB bound.
123382656
PRIMORDIAL NUCLEOSYNTHESIS AS A PROBE OF PARTICLE PHYSICS AND COSMOLOGY