2023/10/06 by Zheng, Chuan, Fedorets, Pavel, Engels, Ralf +11
#FOS: Physical sciences #Nuclear Experiment (nucl-ex) #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2310.04184
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-2muHe 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.