Once the cell is complete, a surface coil (or coils, depending on the desired coil type) is taped to the outside of the cell, which a) allows RF pulses to be produced in order to tip the polarized spins into the detection field (x,y plane) and b) detects the signal produced by the polarized nuclear spins. The cell is placed in an oven which allows for the cell and its contents to be heated so the alkali metal enters the vapor phase, and the cell is centered in a coil system which generates an applied magnetic field (along the z-axis). A laser, tuned to the D 1 line (electric-dipole transition) of the alkali metal and with a beam diameter matching the diameter of the optical cell, is then aligned with the optical flats of the cell in such a way where the entirety of the cell is illuminated by laser light to provide the largest polarization possible (Figure 7). The laser can be anywhere between tens of watts to hundreds of watts, where higher the power yields larger polarization but is more costly. In order to further increase polarization, a retro-reflective mirror is placed behind the cell in order to pass the laser light through the cell twice. Additionally, an IR iris is placed behind the mirror, providing information of laser light absorption by the alkali metal atoms. When the laser is illuminating the cell, but the cell is at room temperature, the IR iris is used to measure the percent transmittance of laser light through the cell. As the cell is heated, the rubidium enters the vapor phase and starts to absorb laser light, causing the percent transmittance to decrease. The difference in the IR spectrum between a room temperature spectrum and a spectrum taken while the cell is heated can be used to calculate an estimated rubidium polarization value, P Rb.