A Polarized ³He Target for the CLAS12 Detector

Polarized ³He nuclear targets have been invaluable surrogates for polarized neutron targets in spin-dependent scattering studies of the quark and gluon structure of matter. Traditional polarized ³He targets have seen dramatic improvements in the last three decades, however they have been limited in their use in spectrometers that utilize high-magnetic-field tracking systems, such as Jefferson Lab's CLAS12 spectrometer. Developments in high-magnetic-field metastability exchange optical pumping of ³He, recently brought to bear for a polarized ³He ion source for RHIC and the EIC, offer a path to a high-field polarized ³He fixed target. By combining these techniques with a double-cell cryogenic target design, such as the one used for the MIT-Bates 88-02 experiment, polarization and target density comparable to traditional polarized ³He targets can be reached while within a high magnetic field environment. We will discuss the conceptual design for such a target, share our progress in polarizing ³He with MEOP at JLab, and map out our path to a experiment ready target for Hall B.