Department of Physics
Research, teaching and outreach in Physics at UW–Madison

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R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminars
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Hyperpolarized Spins in Nanodiamond
Date: Thursday, March 9th
Time: 10:00 am
Place: 5310 Chamberlin Hall
Speaker: Ewa Rej, University of Sydney
Abstract: Nanodiamond is emerging as a platform for the development of nanoparticles for personalized medicine, based on its unique quantum mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and rich surface chemistry. Although diamonds have already been used for drug delivery of chemotherapeutics, and as optical sensors of sub cellular processes, a means of non-invasively detecting these nanoparticles in-vivo is still lacking.
I will present work towards developing nanodiamond as a new bioagent for MRI. By increasing the 13C nuclear spin polarization in diamond, we boost the detectable NMR signal by several orders of magnitude. These hyperpolarization techniques, combined with the long T1 relaxation times of up to an hour in nanodiamond, open the possibility of using standard MRI techniques to image small concentrations of nanoparticles over long time scales.
I will also present work examining T2 spin-spin relaxation times, demonstrating how T2 can increase by three orders of magnitude using hyperpolarization combined with dynamical decoupling sequences.
Host: McDermott
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