Production of HD Molecules in Definite Hyperfine Substates

Phys Rev Lett. 2020 Mar 20;124(11):113003. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.113003.

Abstract

Polarized atomic beam sources have been in operation for many years to produce either nuclear polarized atomic hydrogen or deuterium beams. In recent experiments, such a source was used to polarize both isotopes independently at the same time. By recombination of the atoms, hydrogen-deuterium molecules with all possible nuclear spin combinations can be created. Those spin isomers are useful for further applications, like precision spectroscopy, as polarized targets for laser-particle acceleration, polarized fuel for fusion reactors, or as an option for future measurements of electric dipole moments.