The E166 experiment: development of an undulator-based polarized positron source for the international linear collider

A longitudinal polarized positron beam is foreseen for the international linear collider (ILC). A proof-of-principle experiment has been performed in the final focus tea beam at SLAC to demonstrate the production of polarized positrons for implementation at the ILC. The E166 experiment uses a 1m long helical undulator in a 46.6 GeV electron beam to produce a few MeV photons with a high degree of circular polarization. These photons are then converted in a thin target to generate longitudinally polarized e+ and e-. The positron polarization is measured using a Compton transmission polarimeter. The data analysis has shown asymmetries in the expected vicinity of 3.4% and ∼1% for photons and positrons respectively and the expected positron longitudinal polarization is covering a range from 50% to 90%. (author)