Polarization enhanced Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance with an atomic magnetometer

Malone, Michael W.; Barrall, Geoffrey A.; Espy, Michelle A.; Monti, Mark C.; Alexson, Dimitri A.; Okamitsu, Jeffrey K.

doi:10.1117/12.2224070

Polarization enhanced Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance with an atomic magnetometer

Journal Article · Tue May 03 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2224070· OSTI ID:1544757

^[1]; Barrall, Geoffrey A. ^[2]; ^[1]; Monti, Mark C. ^[3]; Alexson, Dimitri A. ^[3]; Okamitsu, Jeffrey K. ^[3]

Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
QUASAR Federal Systems, San Diego, CA (United States)
NIITEK, Inc., Dulles, VA (United States)

Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance (NQR) has been demonstrated for the detection of 14-N in explosive compounds. Application of a material specific radio-frequency (RF) pulse excites a response typically detected with a wire- wound antenna. NQR is non-contact and material specific, however fields produced by NQR are typically very weak, making demonstration of practical utility challenging. For certain materials, the NQR signal can be increased by transferring polarization from hydrogen nuclei to nitrogen nuclei using external magnetic fields. This polarization enhancement (PE) can enhance the NQR signal by an order of magnitude or more. Atomic magnetometers (AM) have been shown to improve detection sensitivity beyond a conventional antenna by a similar amount. AM sensors are immune to piezo-electric effects that hamper conventional NQR, and can be combined to form a gradiometer for effective RF noise cancellation. In principle, combining polarization enhancement with atomic magnetometer detection should yield improvement in signal-to-noise ratio that is the product of the two methods, 100-fold or more over conventional NQR. However both methods are even more exotic than traditional NQR, and have never been combined due to challenges in operating a large magnetic field and ultra-sensitive magnetic field sensor in proximity. Furthermore we present NQR with and without PE with an atomic magnetometer, demonstrating signal enhancement greater than 20-fold for ammonium nitrate. We also demonstrate PE for PETN using a traditional coil for detection with an enhancement factor of 10. Experimental methods and future applications are discussed.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP)

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001

OSTI ID:: 1544757

Report Number(s):: LA-UR--16-21713

Journal Information:: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering, Journal Name: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering Vol. 9823; ISSN 0277-786X

Publisher:: SPIECopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION
73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS
NQR
PETN
ammonium nitrate
atomic magnetometers
coil
polarization enhancement
standoff detection

Polarization enhanced Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance with an atomic magnetometer

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