using the Electron Beam Ion Source

This thesis presents my work on the design and development of a source of polarized Helium-3 ions for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Lab, Upton, NY. The 3He atoms will be polarized using the technique of metastability-exchange optical pumping (MEOP), and will then be flowed into the newly commis-sioned Electron Beam Ion Source (EBIS). Fully stripped 3He++ ions will be extracted and their polarizations measured at low energies before acceleration in the RHI