Tscherbul, T.V.Zhang, PengSadeghpour, HosseinDalgarno, AlexanderBrahms, N.Au, Yat ShanDoyle, John2011-11-212008Tscherbul, T.V., Peng Zhang, Hossein R. Sadeghpour, Alexander Dalgarno, N. Brahms, Yat Shan Au, and John M. Doyle. 2008. Collision-induced spin depolarization of alkali-metal atoms in cold \(^3\)He gas. Physical Review A 78(6): 060703(R).1050-2947http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:5349608We present a joint experimental and theoretical study of spin depolarization in collisions of alkali-metal atoms with \(^3\)He in a magnetic field. A rigorous quantum theory for spin-changing transitions is developed and applied to calculate the spin exchange and spin relaxation rates of Li and K atoms in cryogenic \(^3\)He gas. Magnetic trapping experiments provide upper bounds to the spin exchange rates for Li-\(^3\)He and K-\(^3\)He, which are in agreement with the present theory. Our calculations demonstrate that the alkali-metal atoms have extremely slow spin depolarization rates, suggesting a number of potential applications in precision spectroscopy and quantum optics.en-USJournal Article2011-11-2110.1103/PhysRevA.78.060703