Abstract

Oriented samples of nuclei are of profound utility in solid state, nuclear and particle physics. Among various methods in use for orienting nuclei, optical pumping of atoms in gases and beams is a relatively simple room-temperature method and has been used especially for achieving nuclear poldrization in alkaline and rare gas atoms. On the other hand, orientation of nuclei in solids by optical pumping has been scarcely investigated: although small polarization (10^-3%) was obtained for protons in anthracene¹⁾ and ²⁹Si in silicon²⁾, achievement of significant nuclear polarization reported so far was, to our knowlidge, only for ¹⁸⁹Tm in a crystal of Tœ²⁺ in CaF₂ by Grant et ai.³⁾ in 1968.

© 1988 Optical Society of America