TUNABLE LASERS AT 1080 nm FOR HELIUM OPTICAL PUMPING : NEW USES FOR AN OLD TECHNIQUE

A number of tunable, IR lasers have been developed recently which can be used to optically pump the metastable atoms of helium. This laser optical pumping, producing spin-polarized helium atoms, has led to an extraordinary number of important applications including magnetometry, nuclear targets, and polarized electron beams. We describe the current status of these lasers and some of the applications