Experimental verification of predicted beam-polarization oscillations near a spin resonance

Phys Rev Lett. 2008 Feb 8;100(5):054801. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.054801. Epub 2008 Feb 5.

Abstract

The Chao matrix formalism allows analytic calculations of a beam's polarization behavior inside a spin resonance. We recently tested its prediction of polarization oscillations occurring in a stored beam of polarized particles near a spin resonance. Using a 1.85 GeV/c polarized deuteron beam stored in the COoler SYnchrotron, we swept a new rf solenoid's frequency rather rapidly through 400 Hz during 100 ms, while varying the distance between the sweep's end frequency and the central frequency of an rf-induced spin resonance. Our measurements of the deuteron's polarization near and inside the resonance agree with the Chao formalism's predicted oscillations.