A high-pressure polarized 3He gas target for the High Intensity Gamma Source (HIγS) facility at Duke Free Electron Laser Laboratory

A new polarized ³He target has been developed for nuclear physics experiments utilizing the High Intensity Gamma Source (HIγS) at the Duke Free Electron Laser Laboratory (DFELL). This target is designed for a broad program of physics employing high intensity polarized photons and a polarized ³He target as an effective polarized neutron target. We report the performance of this target based on the technique of spin-exchange optical pumping (SEOP). Due to the significantly larger photon beam size at the HIγS facility than that of a typical electron beam at electron accelerator laboratories, the HIγS ³He target contains a larger number of ³He nuclei than any polarized ³He targets reported previously. A target polarization on the order of 33-46% has been achieved from both a regular ³He-Rubidium (Rb) target and a hybrid target which contains a mixture of Rb and potassium. The target polarization has been determined within 3 % using both the Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) technique and the NMR-AFP (Adiabatic Fast Passage) technique. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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Author Haiyan Gao Physics