Measurement of tensor analyzing power in electron-deuteron elastic scattering

An internal-target technique was used to make the first measurements of the tensor analyzing power ${\mathit{T}}_{20}$ of electron-deuteron elastic scattering in the four-momentum-transfer range of 2–3 ${\mathrm{fm}}^{\mathrm{-}1}$. Polarized deuterium atoms were confined within a storage cell in the VEPP-3 electron storage ring in Novosibirsk to achieve a total target thickness of 3×${10}^{12}$ ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{-}2}$, 15 times greater than was previously possible with an atomic-beam target alone. The results for ${\mathit{T}}_{20}$ are in agreement with reasonable models of the deuteron wave function.