Development of a Polarized Helium-3 Source for RHIC and eRHIC

Abstract

The addition of a polarized <jats:sup>3</jats:sup>He ion source for use at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory would enable a host of new measurements, particularly in the context of a planned eRHIC. We are developing such a source using metastability exchange optical pumping to polarize helium-3, which will be then transferred into RHIC’s Electron Beam Ion Source for ionization. We aim to deliver nuclear polarization of near 70%, and roughly 10[Formula: see text] doubly-ionized <jats:sup>3</jats:sup>He[Formula: see text] ions will be created in each 20 [Formula: see text]sec pulse. We discuss the design of the source, and the status of its development.