A method of calorimetric detection of two-dimensional atomic hydrogen using an induced two-body exchange recombination

We propose a novel method to detect hydrogen atoms in the pure hyperfine state b at the small dense spot of the sample cell surface by injecting in pulses small controlled amounts of atoms in the reactive mixed state a into the cell volume. The total recombination rate inferred from a carbon bolometer overheating will display pronounced peaks due to two-body ab recombination. The relaxation rate of these peaks to the original value of the bolometer signal will be proportional to b-atoms' density at the spot. This method can be applied to measure the surface density of polarized H in the experiments with the field compression and with the cold spot as well. 14 refs., 4 figs