A polarized HD target factory in Europe

Highly polarized hydrogen molecules in the solid phase are of primary inter est as "polarizcd targets" for Nuclear Physics experiments and polarized fu el for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF). Within the French-Italian GRAAL c ollaboration, we are constructing a new Polarized HD Target Factory, implan ted at IPN Orsay. It consists of a powerful Dilution Refrigerator (12 muW a t 10 mK) equipped with a 16.5T superconducting magnet and several ancillary cryostats for condensation, storage, transfer and transport of polarized I ID samples. The primary objective is to produce polarized HD targets (HYDIL E project) for the photoproduction experiments with the GRAAL polarized hig h energy real photon beams, obtained from backscattering of laser light aga inst the electron stored in the ESRF ring at Grenoble. Production of target s for other sites is forseen. The system will be described and the results already obtained for the static polarization of a HD sample will be given. The possibility to investigate dynamic polarization methods for HD and appl y them to DT in order to produce polarized DT fuel for fusion will be discu ssed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.