Our colleagues at the Institut Laue Langevin, in Grenoble, France, have now completed the construction of our new Helium-3 polarising station.
The ILL team has for the past several weeks been doing commissioning work on individual components: the gas flow system, the electronics, the control program, the laser optics, and mechanical test fitting the various components.
The field coils had previously been tested to yield a highly uniform magnetic field for the job. Yesterday, the team assembled all the components of the station together and fulfilled the milestone of completing the construction.
The focus will now be continuing the commissioning work of the system and now move towards the goal of polarising Helium-3 gas to high polarisation.
This system will be used to polarise the gas used in polarisers and analysers for six of our instruments: WOMBAT, PLATYPUS, QUOKKA, TAIPAN, SIKA and PELICAN.
Published: 07/10/2011