The recent experimental program at the laboratory has emphasized studies of
spin-dependent phenomena. Bates pioneered the use of polarized electron
beams for nuclear physics. Originally developed for the measurement of
parity violation in elastic scattering from carbon, the polarized source
has subsequently been utilized for the first program of quasielastic
scattering from polarized He, electron asymmetry experiments utilizing
out-of-plane coincidence reactions, spin transfer reactions on the proton
and deuteron and with neutron polarimetry for
experiments.
Deuteron recoil polarization has been used to obtain the highest
determination of the tensor polarization observable
.