Intense pulses of polarized electrons produced by Fano effect

A pulsed polarized electron source using the Fano effect on cesium is described in detail. A frequency doubled dye laser producing 2 mJ/pulse at 305 nm is used as the source of circularly polarized light. The light beam interacts with an array of 20 atomic beams. The atomic beam oven operates in a closed cycle thereby increasing running time by a factor of 30. Intensities of 3×109e−/0.5 μs with a polarization of 90% have been routinely obtained.