A fast pneumatic sample-shuttle with attenuated shocks

We describe a home-built pneumatic shuttle suitable for the fast displacement of samples in the vicinity of a highly sensitive atomic magnetometer. The samples are magnetized at 1 T using a Halbach assembly of magnets. The device enables the remote detection of free-induction-decay in ultra-lowfield and zero-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiments, in relaxometric measurements and in other applications involving the displacement of magnetized samples within time intervals as short as a few tens of milliseconds. Other possible applications of fast sample shuttling exist in radiological studies, where samples have to be irradiated and then analyzed in a 'cold' environment

Light-induced diffusion and desorption of alkali metals in a siloxane film: theory and experiment

The light-induced desorption and diffusion of alkali-metal atoms in organic films are interesting fields of investigation. An impressive demonstration is given by the recently observed light-induced atomic desorption ~LIAD! effect, where a huge alkali-metal atom desorption from siloxane films, previously exposed to atomic vapors, is induced by weak and nonresonant light. In this paper, experimental data and a one-dimensional theoretical model of the effect are presented. The model gives a good description of the vapor density dynamics by taking into account both the atomic diffusion inside the coating and the surface desorption. General equations are reported and discussed within the limits of experimental interest. The potential barrier at the vapor-surface interface and the activation energy for Rb in (poly)dimethylsiloxane have been determined