Polarization of fast particle beams by collisional pumping

A method for polarizing a fast beam of particles by collisional pumping, comprising the steps of: generating a beam of unpolarized ions; and generating an electron-spin-polarized medium of atoms positioned as a target for the beam. The target medium being sufficiently thick to allow the beam to interact with the medium to produce collisional pumping by repeated charge-changing collisions of the initially unpolarized ions of the beam with the electron-spin-polarized atoms of the target to produce a succession of electron-capture and electron-loss collisions to pump both the electron-spin and nuclear-spin polarization of the beam up to substantially the electron-spin polarization of the target