Nuclear tensor polarization in a laser-driven polarized deuterium internal target

We present the results of the first direct measurement of nuclear polarization in an optically pumped spin-exchange polarized deuterium target. Measurements of the nuclear tensor polarization pzz are made in a storage cell as a function of flow of deuterium nuclei. For these measurements, the optical pumping was performed on atoms in magnetic fields of 600 and 3600 G. These measurements verify that the spin-exchange method is capable of producing polarized deuterium nuclei without the use of rf transitions. The electronic polarization, Pe, is also measured. The Pe and pzz measurements at 600 G indicate that the system is in spin-temperature equilibrium, whereas the 3600 G measurements show signatures of non-equilibrium effects. Pe is also measured with the system operated as a source of polarized atoms, with no storage cell. These measurements are compared with previous measurements using a similar source.