Spin-polarized noble gases: A playground for geometric quantum-phase studies in magnetic resonance

We report on geometric (Berry) phase experiments performed with the Stuttgart nuclear magnetic resonance gyroscope utilizing highly polarized noble-gas atoms as sensor nuclei for spatial rotations. Due to the long nuclear spin-relaxation times in the gas phase and the different spin-level schemes of the different isotopes of xenon, 129Xe (I = 12) in a rotating magnetic field and 131Xe (I = 32) in a rotating electric field gradient, the regime of adiabatic changes to nondegenerate levels can experimentally be extended to the nonadiabatic regime for both nondegenerate and degenerate levels, which is of interest in the field on non-Abelian gauge kinematics.