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Review of noble-gas spin amplification via the spin-exchange collisions

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Abstract

Due to isolation from the environment with the protection of the full electronic shells, nuclear spins of noble gas typically feature extraordinary long coherence times, high polarization and good chemical inertness, which makes themselves attractive in extensive scientific applications. Recently, the noble-gas spin amplification via the spin-exchange collisions between overlapping noble-gas spins and alkali-atom spins has been theoretically and experimentally demonstrated in various quantum techniques including maser, Floquet maser, spin-based amplifier, and Floquet spin amplifier. The noble-gas spin amplification can enhance the external oscillating magnetic field by a factor of more than 100 and realize ultrasensitive magnetometry, which is important for the detection of weak electromagnetic fields and hypothetical particles. Based on the spin amplification, experiments have been conducted to search for axion-like dark matter and exotic spin-dependent forces and new constraints have been established. This review summarizes the recent progress on noble-gas spin amplification, including the basic principles, methods, different types, the related applications ranging from magnetic-field sensing to searches for new physics, and prospects for further improvements.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2018-YFA0306600), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11661161018, 11927811, 12004371), Anhui Initiative in Quantum Information Technologies (Grant No. AHY050000), and USTC Research Funds of the Double First-Class Initiative (Grant No. YD3540002002).

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  1. CAS Key Laboratory of Microscale Magnetic Resonance and School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Haowen Su, Min Jiang & Xinhua Peng

  2. CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    Haowen Su, Min Jiang & Xinhua Peng

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  2. Min Jiang
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Correspondence to Min Jiang or Xinhua Peng.

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Su, H., Jiang, M. & Peng, X. Review of noble-gas spin amplification via the spin-exchange collisions. Sci. China Inf. Sci. 65, 200501 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11432-022-3550-1

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