Today, Dr Wai Tung (Hal) Lee, commenced with us to lead our Helium-3 Polarisation Project, which we are pursuing in collaboration with ILL-Grenoble.
Hal joins us most recently from the Spallation Neutron Source at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the USA.
This technology is new to Australia, and works by taking helium-3 gas which is a neutron absorber, arranging for all the nuclei to be aligned using lasers in a magnetic field, whereupon only those neutrons with magnetic moments pointing in the opposite direction are absorbed when a neutron beam passes through the gas.
The project will bring polarised 3He-based neutron polarisers and analysers to several of our instruments, including PELICAN, PLATYPUS, QUOKKA, WOMBAT, SIKA, and possibly TAIPAN.
It also has potential as an NMR nucleus, with clinical applications in lung imaging. Dr. Lee has strong experience producing and applying polarised helium-3 gas for neutron scattering applications, and in conducting research on magnetic materials using polarised neutron scattering.
Published: 20/11/2009