Nuclear Hyperpolarization in 1H & 19F Rich Fluids Induced by Photon Beams Endowed with Orbital Angular Momentum

Remus Albu¹, Daniel Elgort¹, Khalid shahzad¹, Ramon Erkamp¹, Shiwei Zhou¹, Jean-Luc Robert¹

A novel hyperpolarization approach is presented that uses a photon beam endowed with orbital angular momentum (OAM) to induce nuclear hyperpolarization in liquids at room temperature. The feasibility of this hyperpolarization method was verified experimentally by irradiating small volumes of 1H and 19F rich liquid samples with a focused OAM beam endowed with OAM charges of 0 to 20. The NMR signal level for light off and OAM=0 conditions were comparable, while the NMR signal level increased with the absolute value of the OAM charge. The nuclear magnetic polarization of the fluid sample inside the focal spot of the OAM beam was estimated to be between ~1.5% and 5%.