High-energy polarized electron beams from the ionization of isolated spin polarized hydrogen atoms

Abstract

We propose a laser-based method for the preparation of high-energy polarized electrons, from the ionization of isolated spin-polarized hydrogen (SPH) atoms. The SPH atoms are prepared from the photodissociation of HCl, using two consecutive UV pulses of ps duration. By appropriately timing and focusing the pulses, we can spatially separate the highly polarized SPH from other unwanted photoproducts, which then act as the target for the acceleration lasers. We show how elastic collisions define number density $n$ and polarization P regimes ($10^{16}\leq$ $n$ $\leq 10^{18}$ cm$^{-3}$, 0.99 $\geq$ P $\geq$ 0.40) for the pre-polarized targets, and use particle-in-cell simulations to demonstrate the method's feasibility.