Compressing Spin-Polarized 3He With a Modified Diaphragm Pump

Gentile, T. R.; Rich, D. R.; Thompson, A. K.; Snow, W. M.; Jones, G. L.

doi:10.6028/jres.106.033

Compressing Spin-Polarized ³He With a Modified Diaphragm Pump

Journal Article · Sun Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2001 · Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.6028/jres.106.033· OSTI ID:1628745

Gentile, T. R. ^[1]; Rich, D. R. ^[2]; Thompson, A. K. ^[2]; Snow, W. M. ^[3]; Jones, G. L. ^[4]

National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States); DOE/OSTI
National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States)
Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States)
Hamilton College, Clinton, NY (United States)

Nuclear spin-polarized ³He gas at pressures on the order of 100 kPa (1 bar) are required for several applications, such as neutron spin filters and magnetic resonance imaging. The metastability-exchange optical pumping (MEOP) method for polarizing ³He gas can rapidly produce highly polarized gas, but the best results are obtained at much lower pressure (~ 0.1 kPa). We describe a compact compression apparatus for polarized gas that is based on a modified commercial diaphragm pump. The gas is polarized by MEOP at a typical pressure of 0.25 kPa (2.5 mbar), and compressed into a storage cell at a typical pressure of 100 kPa. In the storage cell, we have obtained 20 % to 35 % ³He polarization using pure ³He gas and 35 % to 50 % ³He polarization using ³He-⁴He mixtures. By maintaining the storage cell at liquid nitrogen temperature during compression, the density has been increased by a factor of four.

Research Organization:: Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States); National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AI02-00ER45814; FG02-96ER45587

OSTI ID:: 1628745

Journal Information:: Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Journal Name: Journal of Research of the National Institute of Standards and Technology Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 106; ISSN 1044-677X

Publisher:: National Institute of Standards (NIST)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited By (3)

Optically Polarized $^3$He Gentile, T. R.; Nacher, P. J.; Saam, B. arXiv https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.1612.04178	text	January 2016
Measurements of 3 He spin-exchange rates Chann, B.; Babcock, E.; Anderson, L. W. Physical Review A, Vol. 66, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.66.032703	journal	September 2002
Optically polarized He 3 Gentile, T. R.; Nacher, P. J.; Saam, B. Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 89, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/revmodphys.89.045004	journal	December 2017

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