8 research outputs found
Nuclear Spin Relaxation for Higher Spin
We study the relaxation of a spin I that is weakly coupled to a quantum
mechanical environment. Starting from the microscopic description, we derive a
system of coupled relaxation equations within the adiabatic approximation.
These are valid for arbitrary I and also for a general stationary
non--equilibrium state of the environment. In the case of equilibrium, the
stationary solution of the equations becomes the correct Boltzmannian
equilibrium distribution for given spin I. The relaxation towards the
stationary solution is characterized by a set of relaxation times, the longest
of which can be shorter, by a factor of up to 2I, than the relaxation time in
the corresponding Bloch equations calculated in the standard perturbative way.Comment: 4 pages, Latex, 2 figure
Skyrmion Dynamics and NMR Line Shapes in QHE Ferromagnets
The low energy charged excitations in quantum Hall ferromagnets are
topological defects in the spin orientation known as skyrmions. Recent
experimental studies on nuclear magnetic resonance spectral line shapes in
quantum well heterostructures show a transition from a motionally narrowed to a
broader `frozen' line shape as the temperature is lowered at fixed filling
factor. We present a skyrmion diffusion model that describes the experimental
observations qualitatively and shows a time scale of for
the transport relaxation time of the skyrmions. The transition is characterized
by an intermediate time regime that we demonstrate is weakly sensitive to the
dynamics of the charged spin texture excitations and the sub-band electronic
wave functions within our model. We also show that the spectral line shape is
very sensitive to the nuclear polarization profile along the z-axis obtained
through the optical pumping technique.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Measurements of the persistent singlet state of N2O in blood and other solvents - potential as a magnetic tracer
The development of hyperpolarized tracers has been limited by short nuclear polarization lifetimes. The dominant relaxation mechanism for many hyperpolarized agents in solution arises from intramolecular nuclear dipole–dipole coupling modulated by molecular motion. It has been previously demonstrated that nuclear spin relaxation due to this mechanism can be removed by storing the nuclear polarization in long-lived, singlet-like states. In the case of N2O, storing the polarization of the nitrogen nuclei has been shown to substantially increase the polarization lifetime. The feasibility of utilizing N2O as a tracer is investigated by measuring the singlet-state lifetime of the N2O when dissolved in a variety of solvents including whole blood. Comparison of the singlet lifetime to longitudinal relaxation and between protonated and deuterated solvents is consistent with the dominance of spin-rotation relaxation, except in the case of blood
Lineshape-based polarimetry of dynamically-polarized in solid-state mixtures
Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) of 15N2O, known for its long-lived singlet-state order at low magnetic field, is demonstrated in organic solvent/trityl mixtures at ?1.5 K and 5 T. Both 15N polarization and intermolecular dipolar broadening are strongly affected by the sample’s thermal history, indicating spontaneous formation of N2O clusters. In situ 15N NMR reveals four distinct powder-pattern spectra, attributed to the chemical-shift anisotropy (CSA) tensors of the two 15N nuclei, further split by the intramolecular dipolar coupling between their magnetic moments. 15N polarization is estimated by fitting the free-induction decay (FID) signals to the analytical model of four single-quantum transitions. This analysis implies (10.2±2.2)% polarization after 37 h of DNP, and provides a direct, instantaneous probe of the absolute 15N polarization, without a need for time-consuming referencing to a thermal-equilibrium NMR signa