[en] Motivated by applications to neutron spin filters and recent advances in spectrally narrowed laser diode arrays (LDAs), we are exploring spin exchange optical pumping of ³He at pressures near 1 bar. Among our more interesting results has been the production of glass cells with extremely long relaxation times. The best of these has a lifetime of T₁=840 h [where the polarization decays versus time, t, as exp(-t/T₁)], dominated by the dipole-dipole contribution of 950 h at a ³He partial pressure of 0.85 bar. Using a broadband LDA, we have obtained 55% ³He nuclear polarization in this cell. These results are particularly relevant to the application of ³He-based neutron spin filters to neutron scattering and weak interaction experiments. Applications to magnetometry and polarized gas magnetic resonance imaging are also possible