Highly spin-polarized deuterium atoms from the UV dissociation of Deuterium Iodide

We report the production of highly spin-polarized Deuterium atoms via photodissociation of deuterium iodide at 270 nm. The velocity distribution of both the deuterium and iodine photodissociation products is performed via velocity mapping slice-imaging. Additionally, the angular momentum polarization of the iodine products is studied using polarization-sensitive ionization schemes. The results are consistent with excitation of the \(A^1\Pi_1\) state followed by adiabatic dissociation. The process produces \(\sim\)100\% electronically polarized deuterium atoms at the time of dissociation, which is then converted to \(\sim 60\%\) nuclear D polarization after \(\sim 1.6\) ns. These production times for hyperpolarized deuterium allow collision-limited densities of \(\sim 10^{18}\) cm\(^{-3}\), which is \(\sim 10^6\) times higher than conventional (Stern-Gerlach separation) methods. We discuss how such high-density hyperpolarized deuterium atoms can be combined with laser fusion to measure polarized D-D fusion cross sections.