High-field cross polarization NMR from laser-polarized xenon to surface nuclei

A method for NMR investigations of surface nuclei using cross polarization from optically polarized xenon (OPCP) is described. We find this methodology results in enhancement factors of approximately 10³ upon application to surface protons. The dynamics of¹²⁹Xe transfer to protons is examined in some detail, including the time, temperature, and multiple contact dependences of signal intensities. Furthermore, we discuss the sensitivity of the transfer process to spatial diffusion. Finally, we report on application of the OPCP experiment to a low total surface area sample.     

The3He(α,γ)7Be reaction and the solar neutrino problem

The capture reaction³He(α,γ)⁷Be has been investigated in the energy range ofE _c.m. =107 to 1,266 keV. The⁴He or³He beams of up to 300 μA particle current were incident on³He or⁴He gas targets, respectively. The gas target systems were all of the windowless and recirculating type. Excitation functions have been obtained with the use of an extended-static gas target, while the measurements ofγ-ray angular distributions involved a quasi-point supersonic jet system. The determination of absolute cross sections has been carried out with both types of gas target systems. Theγ-ray yields in the³He(α,γ)⁷Be reaction were detected using 80 cm³ Ge(Li) detectors. The data lead to a zero-energy intercept of the astrophysicalS(E) factor ofS(0)=0.30±0.03 keV-b. This result reduces the calculated solar neutrino rate by a factor of 1.76.     

129Xe and131Xe NMR of xenon on silica surfaces at 77 K

Little is known about¹²⁹Xe NMR spectral features and spin-lattice relaxation behavior, and the dynamics of xenon atoms, for xenon adsorbed on solid surfaces at cryogenic temperatures (≤77 K), where exchange with gas-phase atoms is not a significant complication. We report¹²⁹Xe NMR experiments at 9,4 T that provide such information for xenon adsorbed onto the hydroxylated surface of a number of microporous silica samples at 77 K. A convenient design for these cryogenic experiments is described. Dynamics of surface-adsorbed xenon atoms on the time scale of seconds can be observed by¹²⁹Xe NMR hole-burning experiments; much slower dynamics occurring over hours and days are evidenced from changes with time of the¹²⁹Xe NMR chemical shifts. The peak maxima occur in the region ca. 180–316 ppm, considerably downfield of¹²⁹Xe shifts previously reported on surfaces at higher temperatures, and closer to the shift of xenon bulk solid (316.4±1 ppm). The¹²⁹Xe spin-lattice relaxation timesT ₁ range over five orders of magnitude; possible explanations for both nonexponential relaxation behavior and extremely shortT ₁ values (35 ms) are discussed. Preliminary¹³¹Xe and¹H NMR results are presented, as well as a method for greatly increasing the sensitivity of¹²⁹Xe NMR detection at low temperatures by using closely-spaced trains of rf pulses.     

Polarization of 4He(23S1) by optically pumped Rb

The Zeeman resonance in He(2³S₁) has been observed with narrow linewidth, ～350 Hz, using a technique involving spin-dependent Penning collisions with optically pumped Rb. This linewidth is 100 times narrower than previously reported in determination of g_J(⁴He, 2³S₁).     

On total capture rate of negative muons in4He

Total capture rate ofμ ^? in⁴He is calculated using a modified Irving wave function, whose parameters are obtained from a variational calculation of the binding energy of⁴He using a central velocity-dependent potential.     

Fine-structure measurements of4He by zero-field quantum beats

The complete finestructure beat frequency patterns ofn ³ P states of⁴He I (n=3–7) are measured by observation of zero field quantum beats using the beam-foil technique. The results provide a new experimental value for the 7³ P ₂–7³ P _o separation, confirm the beat amplitude ratios to be in accord with theory and allow comparison with the results of other techniques.     

Spin assignment for the 1.89 MeV level in42Sc

The gamma decay mode and the spin value of the 1.89 MeV state of⁴²Sc were investigated by studying the⁴⁰Ca(³He,p γ)⁴²Sc reaction at 10.0 MeV energy of the incident³He beam. The analysis of thep-γ angular correlation of the 1.89 MeV ground state transition — using method II of Litherland and Ferguson — yields the spin assignmentJ=1 for this level.     

The reaction3He(d,p)4He with a polarized target

The left-right asymmetry for the³He(d, p)⁴He reaction has been measured with a polarized³He target at a bombarding energy of 12 MeV. The experimental results are compared with proton polarization measurements for unpolarized target and beam. The construction of the optically pumped³He target is described. A special design has been chosen to overcome the difficulty that the target contamination caused by the bombarding particles destroys the polarization. The target can easily be purified without removing it from the experimental set-up.     

Proton states in theN = 86 nuclei147Pm and149Eu populated in the (3He,d), (α,t) and (t, α) reactions

The (³He,d) and (α, t) reactions on targets of¹⁴⁶Nd and¹⁴⁸Sm have been studied, using beams of 24 MeV³He and 27 MeV⁴He from the McMaster University tandem van de Graaff accelerator. Also the (t, α) reaction on a target of¹⁴⁸Sm has been studied, using 17 MeV tritons from the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory tandem accelerator. The reaction products were analyzed with magnetic spectrographs. Information on thel-values was obtained from (³He,d) angular distributions and from ratios of (α,t) and (³He,d) cross sections. In each nucleus a severe fragmentation of the shell-model strength is found. In particular a total of 13(7)l=2 transitions and 6(6)l=0 transitions have been identified in¹⁴⁷Pm(¹⁴⁹Eu). The results are analyzed in terms of the spherical shell model, which accounts fairly well for the summed spectroscopic strengths. However, with the existence of the (t, α) data a more detailed investigation of the emptiness of individual levels observed in¹⁴⁷Pm gives some indication that a deformed scheme might be more successful in describing these nuclei.     

Surface SelectiveH/Si CP NMR by NOE Enhancement from Laser Polarized Xenon

The surface proton spin polarization created by the spin-polarization-induced nuclear Overhauser effect from optically polarized xenon can be transferred in a subsequent step by solid-state cross polarization to another nuclear spin species such as²⁹Si. The technique exploits the dipolar interactions of xenon nuclear spins with high γ nuclei such as¹H, and is experimentally simpler than direct polarization transfer from¹²⁹Xe to heteronuclei such as¹³C and²⁹Si.     

Novel MRI applications of laser-polarized noble gases

Gas-phase nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has great potential as a probe for a variety of interesting physical and biomedical problems that are not amenable to study by water or similar liquid. However, NMR of gases was largely neglected due to the low signal obtained from the thermally polarized gases with very low sample density. The advent of optical pumping techniques for enhancing the polarization of the noble gases³He and¹²⁹Xe has bought new life to this field, especially in medical imaging where³He lung inhalation imaging is approaching a clinical application. However, there are numerous applications in materials science that also benefit from the use of these gases. We review primarily nonmedical applications of laser-polarized noble gases for both NMR imaging and spectroscopy and highlight progress with examples from our laboratory including high-resolution imaging at millitesla applied field strength and velocity imaging of convective flow. Porous media microstucture has been probed with both thermal and laser-polarized xenon, as xenon is an ideal probe due to low surface interaction with the grains of the porous media.     

Comments on “the (3He,d) reaction on28Si”

An assertion made in a recent paper dealing with the²⁸Si(³He,d) reaction to the 1/2⁺ ground state of²⁹P, namely that the spectroscopic factor extracted in the conventional way using DWBA analyses has a strong energy dependence, is shown to be due to a complication of inconsistent DWBA analyses by various authors, rather than being due to any intrinsic feature of the²⁸Si(³He,d) reaction mechanism.     

Electric-field dependence of muonium formation in liquid helium

The influence of electric fields on the formation of muonium in liquid helium (⁴He,³He, and mixture of⁴He + 0.2%³He) has been studied. It was found that the relative distribution of muon-electron pairs is anisotropic. The maximum muon density is shifted with respect to the electrons in the direction of the initial muon momentum. Due to the anisotropy the muonium asymmetry in normal liquid helium is enhanced by a factor of 3 in an electric fieldE=1 kV/cm.     

In-beam study of74Br and a first cascade in75Kr

An in-beam study of⁷⁴Br has been carried out using γ-ray spectroscopy in connection with the reactions (³He,p2in) and (d,2n) on⁷⁴Se targets. Separate level schemes on top of the two β-decaying isomers of⁷⁴Br are proposed. Two cascades connecting highspin states are assigned to populate theI ^π=4⁽⁺⁾ isomer. In this level scheme, the excited states at 72.1, 188.3 and 472.0 keV are found to have half-lives of 13.3, 0.7 and 0.7 ns, respectively. The low-spin isomer of⁷⁴Br is tentatively assigned asI ^π=(0^?). This state is populated by two other cascades. For the low-spin levels two-particle configurations of proton and neutron Nilsson orbitals are proposed. The high-spin states are tentatively interpreted as arising from the configurations (πg _9/2,νg _9/2) and (πg _3/2,νg _9/2). As a by-product, a cascade of four transitions has been observed during the³He bombardment of⁷⁴Se and tentatively assigned to negative-parity states in⁷⁵Kr.     

Inelastic p 4He interaction in nonequilibrium cosmological nucleosynthesis

The current status of experimental data on inelastic p ⁴He scattering is reviewed, and the cross sections for respective channels are roughly estimated. These estimates make it possible to compute the amounts of ³He, ³H, and d nuclei produced in nonequilibrium cosmological nucleosynthesis to a precision of 10%. Investigation of inelastic p ⁴He scattering by using the method of accelerated ⁴He nuclei at E _p75 MeV is of particular interest for cosmological applications because this allows one to achieve a higher precision in calculating nonequilibrium cosmological nucleosynthesis.     

Low-lying states in99Tc populated by (3He,d) reaction in98Mo

The proton stripping reaction⁹⁸Mo(³He,d)⁹⁹Tc is studied with 18 MeV³He ion beam. The out-going deuterons from the reaction are analysed using an Enge magnetic spectrograph. The experimental angular distributions are compared with distorted-wave-Born-approximation calculations, andl-values and spectroscopic factors are obtained. Many of the previous spin-parity assignments for the low-lying states in⁹⁹Tc are confirmed and new ones are made. The proton configuration for the ground state of⁹⁸Mo is deduced.     

Exchange currents in electric transitions and the rôle of siegert's theorem: A case study in deuteron photodisintegration

The hyperfine structure (hfs) splittings of the metastable 1s2s ³ S ₁ state of⁷Li⁺ have been measured with combined laser optical pumping and microwave resonance. A lowenergy Li⁺ ion beam, optically excited by an intersecting laser beam, passed a waveguide where radio frequency transitions were induced. The resulting population transfer among the hfs levels of the³ S ₁ was detected via the change in intensity of the fluorescence light from a second crossing region of laser light and ion beam located past the waveguide. The magnetic hfs constantA(⁷Li⁺, 1s2s ³S₁) was measured and compared with theory. A deviation of the two transition frequenciesν(F=3/2?F=5/2) andν(F=1/2?F=3/2) from the interval rule is due to a depression of theF=3/2 hfs sublevel, caused by mixing of the 2³ S ₁ and 2¹ S ₀ states via hyperfine interaction. This shift was never observed so far in a two-electron spectrum, because of absence ofI>1/2 isotopes in He, the only two-electron atom investigated spectroscopically with high precision. The size of the shift is in fair agreement with a theoretical estimate.     

Activation measurement of the3He(4He,γ)7Be reaction

The energy integrated absolute cross section of the³He(⁴He,γ)⁷Be reaction has been determined by an activation measurement, using the branching of the⁷Be 53.44d β-decay to the 478 keV state in⁷Li and its subsequentγ-decay. Depending on the branching ratio used (10.4% or 15.4%) we obtain a zero-energy nuclear cross section factor ofS(0)=0.56±0.03 keV·barn orS(0)=0.38±0.03 keV·barn, respectively.     

Observation of the spin polarization of Cs atoms during optical orientation of metastable helium atoms in alkali-helium plasma

We are the first to experimentally observe a magnetic-resonance signal of 6² S _1/2 Cs atoms by absorption of light from a helium lamp that was used to optically orient metastable 2³ S ₁ He atoms. The amplitude of the cesium signal proved to be almost three orders of magnitude lower than the amplitude of the magnetic resonance of 2³ S ₁ He atoms. Particular features of the creation and observation of the collisional polarization of cesium under conditions of alkali-helium plasma have been discussed.     

Nuclear reactions induced by stopped negative pions in133Cs,93Nb and45Sc

The energy and angular distributions ofp, d, t,³He and⁴He from the three targets Cu, Ag and Au were measured at five different angles for bremsstrahlung with peak energy 500MeV. The measurements were made using a telescope consisting of four surface-barrier detectors. The experimental data are compared with cascade-evaporation calculations. For the⁴He-distributions the calculations were extended to include the contribution from knock-out of surface alphas by the cascade nucleons. The comparison shows that the main contribution comes from evaporation but that there is a direct component of the order of 10%.