Abstract
We have used the method of fractional distillation to produce an enhanced nuclear polarization of a saturated 3 He- 4 He mixture. For the experimental study reported in this paper, we have developed an all plastic distillation setup, which allows high 3 He circulation rates at low temperatures (18 μmol/s at 150 mK) up to the highest magnetic fields (22.5 T). The magnetization has been measured with a torque magnetometer. The nuclear magnetic relaxation time T1 of the 3 He- 4 He mixture was found to increase with the square of the magnetic field, indicating that T1 is dominated by surface relaxation. As a consequence, the enhancement of the magnetization due to the distillation process, which is amongst others proportional toT1 , increased also with the square of the magnetic field. At the highest field at 140 mK, a polarization of 8% of the 3 He- 4 He mixture has been obtained, 1.6 times the equilibrium value. Various ways to improve the set-up are discussed.
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van Steenbergen, A.S., Wiegers, S.A.J., Perenboom, J.A.A.J. et al. Distillation of Nuclear Polarization of 3He-4He Mixtures in Very High Magnetic Fields. Journal of Low Temperature Physics 113, 101–122 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022541006442
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1022541006442