A scheme for a polarized 3He ion source with a resonant charge-exchange plasma ionizer

A scheme for a polarized 3He2+ ion source based on resonant charge-exchange between polarized 3He atoms and unpolarized 4He2+ ions is proposed. Polarized atoms in this scheme are produced by optical pumping with metastability exchange. The polarized atoms are stored then in a storage cell. Unpolarized 4He2+ ions are formed in a separate unpolarized plasma source and are injected into the charge-exchange region in which the polarized 3He2+ ions are produced by the resonant charge-exchange of the polarized 3He atoms with the unpolarized 4He2+ ions. It is expected that the polarized 3He2+ ion beam produced in this scheme will have high intensity and polarization.