Optical orientation effects on the atom-dimer equilibrium composition of lithium vapor

A shift in the equilibrium distribution between reactants and products in the vapor phase chemical reaction 6Li+7Li=6Li 7Li is caused by the optical orientation of atomic Li spin angular momenta and is shown to be controlled by the degree of atomic orientation. The observations were carried out in a heat-pipe cell operated at 631 K and containing a He buffer gas density of 3.1×1018 cm−3. The shift is similar to that measured for the ortho molecular components in the 2 6Li=6Li2 and 2 7Li=7Li2 gas phase equilibrium reactions.