Development of polarized Xe gas target for neutron experiment at J-PARC

Sakai, Kenji ; Oku, Takayuki   ; Shinohara, Takenao   ; Kira, Hiroshi; Oi, Motoki ; Maekawa, Fujio  ; Kakurai, Kazuhisa; Ino, Takashi*; Arimoto, Yasushi*; Shimizu, Hirohiko*; Sakaguchi, Yoshifumi*; Suzuki, Junichi*; Oyama, Kenji*; Chang, L. J.*

At the Materials and Life science experimental Facility (MLF) in J-PARC, an experiment of detecting a neutron polarizing ability caused by a neutron-nuclear (n-N) spin correlation term at a resonant peak of Xe is planned. The Xe gas having a high polarization under low magnetic field and room temperature by a spin exchange optical pumping (SEOP) technique is expected to become a suitable target for verification of the neutron optical theorem (NOPT). We evaluated measurable quantities based on the NOPT, developed a polarized Xe gas system, and carried out a feasibility test of our apparatus. This paper reports on the present status of the experiment.