Effects of spin-destruction and spin-exchange collisions on alkali-metal relaxation and magnetometric response

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/ae37f7

Abstract Spin-exchange (SE) and spin-destruction (SD) collisions play a central role in determining the coherence properties of alkali-metal vapors and the performance of alkali-metal magnetometers in external magnetic fields. In this work, we investigate how these collisions influence spin relaxation dynamics and magnetometric response using a generalized Bloch equation that fully accounts for the coupled evolution of spin polarizations in different hyperfine manifolds. Our results show that in the low-field regime, both SE and SD collisions contribute to the suppression of transverse spin relaxation and the slowdown of spin precession, whereas longitudinal relaxation depends weakly on the SE rate and is predominantly governed by SD interactions. Building on the established relationship between spin relaxation rates and magnetometric response, we further analyze how SE and SD collisions affect the performance of two representative magnetometer architectures: the spin-exchange relaxation-free (SERF) magnetometer and the magnetic-resonance Mx-type magnetometer. The SERF magnetometer's response is found to be primarily determined by the SD rate, with only minor dependence on the nuclear spin quantum number. In contrast, the magnetic-resonance Mx-type magnetometer's sensitivity is significantly affected by both the magnetic field strength and the SE rate. While the resonance linewidth decreases with reduced magnetic field, the associated measurement accuracy deteriorates markedly. Consequently, reliable magnetic field reconstruction is only achievable in the high-field regime, where the Larmor frequency greatly exceeds the SE rate.

Keywords: spin-exchange collision spin-destruction collision magnetometric response

Received: 04 November 2025
Revised: 23 December 2025
Accepted manuscript online: 14 January 2026

PACS:	34.50.-s	(Scattering of atoms and molecules)
	34.80.Nz	(Spin dependence of cross sections; polarized beam experiments)
	07.55.Ge	(Magnetometers for magnetic field measurements)

Fund: This work was supported by the Science Challenge Project (Grant No. TZ2025017).

Corresponding Authors: Nan Zhao
E-mail: nzhao@csrc.ac.cn

Cite this article:

Feng Tang(汤丰), Jianjun Li(李建军), and Nan Zhao(赵楠) Effects of spin-destruction and spin-exchange collisions on alkali-metal relaxation and magnetometric response 2026 Chin. Phys. B 35 043401

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Effects of spin-destruction and spin-exchange collisions on alkali-metal relaxation and magnetometric response

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