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arXiv · 2310.04184

Preservation of $^3\mkern-2mu$He ion polarization after laser-plasma acceleration

Chuan Zheng·Pavel Fedorets·Ralf Engels·Ilhan Engin·Harald Glückler·Chrysovalantis Kannis·Norbert Schnitzler·Helmut Soltner·Zahra Chitgar·Paul Gibbon·Lars Reichwein·Alexander Pukhov·Bernhard Zielbauer·Markus Büscher
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Abstract

The preservation of nuclear spin alignment in plasmas is a prerequisite for important applications, such as energy production through polarized fusion or the acceleration of polarized particle beams. Although this conservation property has been the basis of numerous theoretical papers, it has never been experimentally confirmed. Here, we report on first experimental data from a polarized $^3\mkern-2mu$He target heated by a PW laser pulse, showing evidence for persistence of the nuclear polarization after acceleration to MeV energies. The finding also validates the concept of using pre-polarized targets for experiments at high-power laser facilities.

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Chuan Zheng, Pavel Fedorets, Ralf Engels, Ilhan Engin, Harald Glückler, Chrysovalantis Kannis, Norbert Schnitzler, Helmut Soltner, Zahra Chitgar, Paul Gibbon, Lars Reichwein, Alexander Pukhov, Bernhard Zielbauer, Markus Büscher. 2023-10-06. Preservation of $^3\mkern-2mu$He ion polarization after laser-plasma acceleration. https://doi.org/10.1017/hpl.2026.10140

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