Application Of Helium Isotopes to a NMR Gyro

The helium isotopes 3He and 4He have properties which make them attractive in a NMR gyro application. Very long polarization relaxation times (up to 24 hours) have been observed with 3He. 4He has been used successfully for a number of years in high sensitivity magnetometers. Analysis and experimental effort have been directed toward the implementation of a NMR gyro using 3He as the rotation sensitive element and 4He to eliminate sensitivity to magnetic fields. In recent experiments, semiconductor diode lasers have been demonstrated to have good characteristics for optical pumping of helium and the simultaneous magnetic resonance of 3He and 4He in a single cell has been observed.© (1978) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.