Recent Advances in Polarized He‐3 Targets

Recently there have been many important advances made in spin‐exchange optical‐pumping (SEOP) polarized He‐3 targets. Use of hybrid K‐Rb SEOP achieved He‐3 polarizations near 50% in‐beam during the recent JLab GEn experiment (E02013). Combining well‐optimized alkali‐hybrid SEOP with high‐power spectrally‐narrowed laser diode arrays increases He‐3 polarizations to 70%. We describe how these technologies work and why they improve target polarization.