Performance of the COMPASS polarized target dilution refrigerator

The dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) of (LiD)-Li-6 requires 1 mW/g or more microwave power in the beginning of the process. With the material of 350 g, this gives more than 350 mW in total for the COMPASS polarized target. A temperature around 300 mK or below is needed for an efficient polarization. These low temperatures can only be achieved with a dilution refrigerator designed to operate with a He-3 flow of 100 mmol/s. In order to keep the polarization in the frozen mode, temperatures of about 65 mK are used with typical magnetic relaxation times of more than 1400 h at 0.42 T and of more than 15 000 h at 2.5 T. Low lattice temperature is important in achieving high nuclear polarization. The base temperature is limited by the heat brought to the mixing chamber by the inlet 3 He and by radiation and conduction of heat. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.