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William Happer

Department/Program(s):

Physics

Position: Professor

Title: Cyrus Fogg Brackett Professor of Physics.

Office: 258 Jadwin Hall/Temp 319 Jadwin

Phone: 609-258-4382

Email: happer@princeton.edu

Homepage: http://happerlab.princeton.edu/

I am interested in the physics of spin-polarized atoms and nuclei, and in the application of these spin-polarized systems in other areas. Together with Professor Cates, research associates and graduate students at Princeton and collaborators from various medical schools, I have been working on ways to use polarized ³He and ¹²⁹Xe for magnetic resonance imaging of lungs and perhaps other organs.

In most of our work we use circularly polarized laser photons to pump angular momentum into electron spins, and we use hyperfine interactions to transfer angular momentum from the polarized electrons to the nuclei. In appropriate containers, the polarized nuclei can be stored for hours or even days with little loss of spin. Much of our present work is aimed at understanding the slow loss of spin which occurs in these containers. The physics of this process is not well understood, especially in the case of surface interactions.

Selected Publications

Ma, J., Kishinevski, A., Jau, Y. Y., Reuter, C. & Happer, W., "Modification of glass cell walls by rubidium vapor", Physical Review A 79, 4 (2009).
McGuyer, B. H., Jau, Y. Y. & Happer, W., "Simple method of light-shift suppression in optical pumping systems", Applied Physics Letters 94, 25 (2009).
Gong, F., Jau, Y. Y. & Happer, W. "Nonlinear pressure shifts of alkali-metal atoms in inert gases", Physical Review Letters 100, 23 (2008).
Gong, F., Jau, Y. Y. & Happer, W. "Magnetic resonance reversals in optically pumped alkali-metal vapor", Physical Review A, 75, 25 (2007).
Jau, Y. Y. & Happer, W., "Push-pull laser-atomic oscillator", Physical Review Letters 99, 22 (2007).
Patton, B., Ishikawa, K., Jau, Y. Y. & Happer, W., "Intrinsic impurities in glass alkali-vapor cells", Physical Review Letters 99, 2 (2007).
Ishikawa, K., Patton, B., Jau, Y. Y. & Happer, W., "Spin transfer from an optically pumped alkali vapor to a solid", Physical Review Letters 98, 18 (2007).
Gong, F., Jau, Y. Y., Jensen, K. & Happer, W., "Electrolytic fabrication of atomic clock cells", Review of Scientific Instruments 77, 7 (2006).
Jau, Y. Y. & Happer, W., "Simultaneous stabilization of frequency and magnetic field with the tilted 0-0 state", Applied Physics Letters 87, 20 (2005).
Post, A. B., Jau, Y. Y., Kuzma, N. N. & Happer, W., "Amplitude- versus frequency-modulated pumping light for coherent population trapping resonances at high buffer-gas pressure", Physical Review A 72, 3 (2005).
Kuzma, N. N., Patton, B., Raman, K. & Happer, W., "Fast nuclear spin relaxation in hyperpolarized solid Xe-129", Physical Review Letters 88, 14 (2002).
Walter, D. K., Griffith, W. M. & Happer, W., "Magnetic slowing down of spin relaxation due to binary collisions of alkali-metal atoms with buffer-gas atoms", Physical Review Letters 88, 9 (2002).
Walter, D. K., Griffith, W. M. & Happer, W., "Energy transport in high-density spin-exchange optical pumping cells", Physical Review Letters 86, 15 (2001).

Full Publication List