Abstract
Using (I=(3/2) atoms, we have demonstrated a new technique for studying the static quadrupole interactions of nuclei in atoms. The nuclear-spin precession frequency is made sensitive to quadrupole energy shifts by inducing, through optical pumping, both dipole and quadrupole spin polarization in a vapor of atoms. The sensitivity predicted from measurements of the polarization agrees with the calibrated value found by inducing a known quadrupole light shift. By rotating the mercury-vapor cell, quadrupole interactions with the cell walls were observed with the expected cos2φ azimuthal variation. In an application of this technique, a search for possible dependence of the spin precession frequency on the orientation of the precession axis in space has yielded the null result Δf<5× Hz, which reduces the previous limits on spatial anisotropy by over three orders of magnitude and places stringent new bounds on violations of Lorentz invariance.
- Received 26 August 1988
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.39.1082
©1989 American Physical Society