Transferring spin polarization from a gas to a solid

Ti:sapphire laser light is routed through an optical shutter and into a multimode fiber. At the fiber coupler's output, the light is polarized by the beam-splitter cube and the quarter-wave plate. Optical absorption is verified by a photodiode before the experiment. Oven temperature is regulated by a PC-controlled resistive heater. Inset: Two temperature sensors are used to measure the cell and probe temperatures inside the nuclear magnetic resonance probe. Credit: Brian Patton