• C. Sun, J.Y. Li, S.F. Mikhailov, V. Popov, W. Wu, Y.K. Wu
  FEL/Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
• A. Chao
  SLAC, Menlo Park, California
• H. Xu, J. Zhang
  USTC/NSRL, Hefei, Anhui

Touschek lifetime of an electron beam in a storage ring depends on the beam polarization through the intrabeam scattering effect. Consequently, the electron beam polarization can be determined by comparing the measured Touschek lifetime of a polarized beam and an unpolarized beam. In this paper, we report a systematic experimental procedure to study the radiative polarization of a stored electron beam. Based upon this technique, we have successfully observed the polarization build-up of a 1.15 GeV electron beam in the Duke storage ring. Using the Touchek lifetime data, we are able to determine the equilibrium degree of the electron beam polarization and the time constant for the polarization build-up process.