Spin-Exchange-Induced Circularly Polarized Molecular Fluorescence

Authors

A.S. Green, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Gordon A. Gallup, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Mark A. Rosenberry, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Timothy J. Gay, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

3-5-2004

Comments

Published by American Physical Society. Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 093201 (2004) http://prl.aps.org. Copyright © 2004 American Physical Society. Permission to use.

Abstract

We have measured the circular polarization of light emitted from both atomic H and molecular H₂ after bombarding H₂ with longitudinally polarized electrons. For both atomic and molecular fluorescence near threshold we observe a circular polarization as great as 10% of the electron polarization. This represents the first direct observation of spin transfer in electron-molecule collisions.