Production of Polarized Hydrogen with an Improved Atomic Beam Source

A source of atomic beams of polarized H and D will be described. High-field tapered permanent magnet sixpoles (1.5 T) are used for Stern-Gerlach separation of the atoms. The beam is cooled with a liquid nitrogen cooled dissociator nozzle. Studies of gas scattering and dissociator output were combined with calculations of atomic trajectories through sixpole magnets to find the optimum source design. The total hydrogen beam intensity is 8.6x10{sup 16} atoms/s in two hyperfine spin states. The measured beam profile and intensity agree with calculations. The beam intensity measured through a 1 cm diameter, 13 cm magnet is (6.7 {+-}0.1)x10{sup 16} atoms/s. A hydrogen beam in a single spin state has also been made with an intensity of (3.6{+-}0.1)x10{sup 16} atoms/s and a nuclear polarization of 0.86{+-}0.05. Presented at the 1993 Joint Meeting of the American Physical Society and the American Association of Physics Teachers, Washington, D.C., April 12-15, 1993