Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging with hyper-polarized noble gases
This is the final report of a six-month, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The nuclei of noble gases can be hyper polarized through a laser-driven spin exchange to a degree many orders of magnitude larger than that attainable by thermal polarization without requiring a strong magnetic field. The increased polarization from the laser pumping enables a good nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signal from a gas. The main goal of this project was to demonstrate diffusion-weighted imaging of such hyper-polarized noble gas with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Possible applications include characterizing porosity of materials and dynamically imaging pressure distributions in biological or acoustical systems.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 534499
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR--97-3510; ON: DE98000087
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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