  Following the first experiment on three-body photodisintegration of polarized
$^3$He utilizing circularly polarized photons from High Intensity Gamma Source
(HI$\gamma$S) at Duke Free Electron Laser Laboratory (DFELL), a new
high-pressure polarized $^3$He target cell made of pyrex glass coated with a
thin layer of sol-gel doped with aluminum nitrate nonahydrate has been built in
order to reduce the photon beam induced background. The target is based on the
technique of spin-exchange optical pumping of hybrid rubidium and potassium and
the highest polarization achieved is $\sim$62% determined from both NMR-AFP and
EPR polarimetry. The $X$ parameter is estimated to be $\sim0.06$ and the
performance of the target is in good agreement with theoretical predictions. We
also present beam test results from this new target cell and the comparison
with the GE180 $^3$He target cell used previously at HI$\gamma$S. This is the
first time that sol-gel coating technique has been used in a polarized $^3$He
target for nuclear physics experiments.
