Generation of polarized 4He+4He+ ion beam by optical pumping using circularly and linearly polarized radiation tuned to D0D0 line (He metastables 23S1→23P023S1→23P0)

It is demonstrated that simultaneous optical pumping (OP) by circularly and linearly polarized 1083 nm radiation tuned to the D0D0 line (He metastables 23S1→23P023S1→23P0 transition) substantially improves the polarization of the He+He+ ion beam, compared with conventional OP by the circularly polarized D1D1 (23S1→23P123S1→23P1) or D2D2 (23S1→23P223S1→23P2) line.