Diffusion of Cs atoms in Ne buffer gas measured by optical magnetic resonance tomography

Optical magnetic resonance tomography uses optical pumping and the paramagnetic Faraday effect to image spin density distributions in optically thin media. In this paper we present an apparatus that allows to measure the distribution of spin-polarized Cs atoms, which we applied to study the diffusion of Cs in Ne buffer gas by time-resolved 2D-mapping of the evolution of an initial inhomogeneous spin distribution. The diffusion constant D0 for Cs in a Ne buffer gas of 1013 mbar is determined as 0.20(1) cm2\s.