A laser optically pumped polarized 3He target for storage rings

A polarized 3He target for use in a storage ring has been constructed and tested. The target employs an infrared laser to polarize 3He atoms by metastability exchange optical pumping in a Pyrex glass cell which is connected by a glass capillary to a windowless target storage cell. The target polarization direction is determined by a 3 mT magnetic field. With 3 W of incident laser power, equilibrium polarizations of 50% at a flow rate of 1x10173He atoms/s have been routinely achieved. Two techniques have been investigated to rapidly reverse the 3He target polarization. Further, a scheme to interface the glass pumping cell with the storage ring vacuum has been developed. (orig.)