Transport of polarized ions through a tandem-superconducting-linac heavy-ion accelerator

Mechanisms for the loss of polarization of beams of nuclear spin polarized 6,7Li accelerated by the FSU tandem Van de Graaff superconducting linac heavy-ion accelerator are considered. The linac uses superconducting solenoids for radial focusing. Estimates and detailed calculations show that for most experiments the depolarization due to the conventional beam line is negligible, while, provided account is taken of the precession produced by the solenoids, the depolarization due to the linac is negligible for 6Li3+ and small for 7Li3+. An experiment was carried out to investigate the depolarization of a vector polarized 6Li3+ beam due to acceleration by the linac. No loss of polarization was observed. (orig.)