Low-frequency excitation of singlet-triplet transitions. Application to nuclear hyperpolarization

Abstract

Coupled pairs of nuclear spin-1/2 support one singlet state and three triplet states. Transitions between the singlet state and one of the triplet states may be driven by an oscillating low-frequency magnetic field, in the presence of couplings to a third nuclear spin, and a weak bias magnetic field. The oscillating field is in the same direction as the bias field and is called a WOLF (Weak Oscillating Low Field) pulse. Application of a WOLF pulse allows for the generation of strong nuclear hyperpolarization of 13C nuclei, starting from the nuclear singlet polarization of a 1H spin pair, associated with the enriched para-spin isomer of hydrogen gas. Hyperpolarization is demonstrated for two molecular systems.