Adiabatic Fast Passage Research Articles

Polarisation Development at the European Spallation Source

To meet the ever-increasing user demand, eleven of the fifteen European Spallation Source (ESS) instruments under construction aim to offer polarised neutrons for user experiments. They include an imaging instrument, a SANS instruments, two reflectometers, three diffractometers, and four spectrometers. In conjunction with in-kind contributions and instrumentation grants, the ESS Polarisation Project will support the incorporation of polarisation analysis on eight of the eleven instruments. The project aims to deliver polarised neutrons for first-science experiments as instruments enter operation. Different polariser and polarisation analyser techniques will be available to accommodate the specifics of experiments on a given instrument. Polarised 3He neutron spin filter using either Metastable Optical Pumping (MEOP) or Spin-Exchange Optical Pumping (SEOP) techniques will provide shared-use equipment among many instruments, with SEOP’s main application being in situ beam-polarisation. Several instruments will also use polarising-supermirror devices. To provide wide-bandwidth spin-flipping capability to the time-of-flight instruments, Adiabatic Fast Passage (AFP) neutron spin flippers, also known as gradient-field radiofrequency spin flippers will be the main method of choice. Devices based on the same AFP principle will also be used to flip 3He nuclear spins. We are constructing our first 3He polariser setup, including field coils to produce highly uniform magnetic field. Monte Carlo simulations are being done for the supermirror polarisers. To ensure science-focused development, we are working with university partners in doing scientific experiments with polarised neutrons. These are some of the activities developing polarisation analysis for ESS instruments in our project.

Neutron polarimetry using a polarized 3He cell for the aCORN experiment

The neutron polarization of the NG-C beamline at the NIST Center for Neutron Research was measured as part of the aCORN neutron beta decay experiment. Neutron transmission through a polarized 3He spin filter cell was recorded while adiabatic fast passage (AFP) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) reversed the polarization direction of the 3He in an eight-step sequence to account for drifts. The dependence of the neutron transmission on the spin filter direction was used to calculate the neutron polarization. The time dependent transmission was fit to a model which included the neutron spectrum, and 3He polarization losses from spin relaxation and AFP-NMR. The neutron polarization averaged over the spectrum of the NG-C beam was found to be ∣Pn∣≤4×10−4 with 90% confidence.

Development of an in Situ 3He NSF Using SEOP Technique with an Evaluation System for the Pulsed Neutron Source

A 3He spin filter is a useful device for polarizing a neutron beam. We are developing the 3He spin filters for users of the material and life science facility of the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J‑PARC). An in situ SEOP system with a 3He polarization evaluation system using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) method of adiabatic fast passage and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) was developed. We conducted an experiment on the neutron beam line BL10 (NOBORU) of J-PARC to confirm the consistency of 3He polarization, estimated using the neutron transmission, NMR and EPR. The polarization of 3He, evaluated using the different methods, was consistent and the evaluation system operated normally for about 6 h.

A transportable neutron spin filter

We report a transportable neutron spin filter based on the strong spin dependence of neutron proton scattering. The necessary high proton polarization is created by dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) that uses short-lived optically excited triplet states instead of stable radicals, which eliminates the main path of nuclear spin lattice relaxation. The polarization can be preserved for many days under moderate experimental conditions and allows to realize a transportable spin filter which is conveniently polarized in the laboratory and then operated on a neutron beam line with practically frozen polarization maintained with a minimum of equipment. Using triplet DNP bulk proton spins in a pentacene doped single crystal of naphthalene have been polarized to a record value of 80% at a field of 0.36T using a simple helium flow cryostat for cooling. This highly polarized sample can be transported in the compact cryostat without loss of polarization to a neutron beam line where it serves as a spin filter for polarization analysis in a neutron scattering experiment. Relaxation times of T1∼800h are achieved at a field of 20mT and the polarization can be reversed by adiabatic fast passage with an efficiency of above 99%.

New Polarized Small Angle Neutron Scattering capability at the High Flux Isotope Reactor

Polarized Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) is a powerful tool for studying mesoscale magnetic structures. In a recent development at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), a polarized neutron beam has been implemented for the CG-2 (GP-SANS) beamline at the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). Three major components were developed to provide the polarized neutron capability: a transmission supermirror neutron polarizer, an adiabatic fast passage neutron spin flipper and a polarized 3He filter as neutron spin analyzer. The new polarized beam SANS capability was used to investigate several magnetic samples having mesoscale structures.

Discussion on data correction for Polarization Analysis with a 3He spin filter analyzer

Fully polarized neutron reflectometry and grazing incidence small angle neutron scattering are effective methods to explore magnetic structures on the nm to μm length scales. This paper is an outline of how to fully correct for the polarization analysis (PA) inefficiencies of such an instrument and to determine the error contributions of the neutron polarizer and analyzer. This discussion considers the exact case of the polarization analysis instrumentation used on the MARIA neutron reflectometer at the MLZ or for a general polarized neutron scattering instrument using at least one 3He neutron spin filter that has the capability for adiabatic fast passage nuclear magnetic resonance flipping of the 3He polarization. This paper will work to build a conceptual understanding of how the inefficiencies of neutron polarization elements affect measured data in order to stress and encourage the application of PA corrections and to help perform successful measurements. Then, using data from a fully polarized neutron reflectometer test measurement we show how it is possible to recover signals on the order of, or even smaller than, the inefficiencies, or bleed-through, of the neutron polarization devices used.

Development of a polarized 3He neutron spin filter for POLANO at J-PARC

We have developed a polarized 3He neutron spin filter (NSF) for a new polarized neutron spectrometer, POLANO, at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). POLANO aims to utilize high energy neutrons polarized by a 3He NSF and spin analyzed by an array of magnetic supermirrors for inelastic neutron scattering. The 3He gas is continuously polarized in-situ by spin-exchange optical pumping to provide a highly and stably polarized neutron beam. The POLANO 3He NSF is designed to polarize neutrons with energies as high as 200 meV and fit in a restricted space. It is equipped with adiabatic fast passage NMR that enables one to flip the 3He spins, and consequently, the neutron spins.

Efficient polarization of high-angular-momentum systems

We propose methods of optical pumping that are applicable to open, high-angular-momentum transitions in atoms and molecules, for which conventional optical pumping would lead to significant population loss. Instead of applying circularly polarized cw light, as in conventional optical pumping, we propose to use techniques for coherent population transfer (e.g., adiabatic fast passage) to arrange the atoms so as to increase the entropy removed from the system with each spontaneous decay from the upper state. This minimizes the number of spontaneous-emission events required to produce a stretched state, thus reducing the population loss due to decay to other states. To produce a stretched state in a manifold with angular momentum J, conventional optical pumping requires about 2J spontaneous decays per atom, one of our proposed methods reduces this to about log_2(2J), while another of the methods reduces it to about one spontaneous decay, independent of J.

Adiabatic fast passage application in solid state NMR study of cross relaxation and molecular dynamics in heteronuclear systems

The paper presents the benefits of using fast adiabatic passage for the study of molecular dynamics in the solid state heteronuclear systems in the laboratory frame. A homemade pulse spectrometer operating at the frequency of 30.2MHz and 28.411MHz for protons and fluorines, respectively, has been enhanced with microcontroller direct digital synthesizer DDS controller [1–4]. This work briefly describes how to construct a low-cost and easy-to-assemble adiabatic extension set for homemade and commercial spectrometers based on recently very popular Arduino shields. The described set was designed for fast adiabatic generation. Timing and synchronization problems are discussed.The cross-relaxation experiments with different initial states of the two spin systems have been performed. Contrary to our previous work [5] where the steady-state NOE experiments were conducted now proton spins 1H are polarized in the magnetic field B0 while fluorine spins 19F are perturbed by selective saturation for a short time and then the system is allowed to evolve for a period in the absence of a saturating field. The adiabatic passage application leads to a reversal of magnetization of fluorine spins and increases the amplitude of the signal.

Ultra-Sensitive Depolarization Study of Polarizing CoTi Supermirrors with the Opaque Test Bench

Abstract We have investigated the depolarization of neutrons in the reflection on polarizing supermirrors, using the opaque test bench. It consists of two opaque 3He cells with in-situ adiabatic fast passage flipping of the helium spin. In a beam initially polarized to AP = 99.98%, depolarization of the order of 10−2 is evidenced after a single reflection on a polarizing supermirror. Depolarization could be reduced though not completely suppressed when working at high magnetizing fields (0.82 T). The preliminary data analysis also suggests a correlation between the m-value of the supermirror and depolarization.

A high-field adiabatic fast passage ultracold neutron spin flipper for the UCNA experiment

The UCNA collaboration is making a precision measurement of the β asymmetry (A) in free neutron decay using polarized ultracold neutrons (UCN). A critical component of this experiment is an adiabatic fast passage neutron spin flipper capable of efficient operation in ambient magnetic fields on the order of 1 T. The requirement that it operate in a high field necessitated the construction of a free neutron spin flipper based, for the first time, on a birdcage resonator. The design, construction, and initial testing of this spin flipper prior to its use in the first measurement of A with UCN during the 2007 run cycle of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center's 800 MeV proton accelerator is detailed. These studies determined the flipping efficiency of the device, averaged over the UCN spectrum present at the location of the spin flipper, to be ̅ε=0.9985(4).

Spin-echo magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging at 7 T with frequency-modulated refocusing pulses.

Two approaches to high-resolution SENSE-encoded magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) of the human brain at 7 Tesla (T) with whole-slice coverage are described. Both sequences use high-bandwidth radiofrequency pulses to reduce chemical shift displacement artifacts, SENSE-encoding to reduce scan time, and dual-band water and lipid suppression optimized for 7 T. Simultaneous B0 and transmit B1 mapping was also used for both sequences to optimize field homogeneity using high-order shimming and determine optimum radiofrequency transmit level, respectively. One sequence ("Hahn-MRSI") used reduced flip angle (90°) refocusing pulses for lower radiofrequency power deposition, while the other sequence used adiabatic fast passage refocusing pulses for improved sensitivity and reduced signal dependence on the transmit-B1 level. In four normal subjects, adiabatic fast passage-MRSI showed a signal-to-noise ratio improvement of 3.2±0.5 compared to Hahn-MRSI at the same spatial resolution, pulse repetition time, echo time, and SENSE-acceleration factor. An interleaved two-slice Hahn-MRSI sequence is also demonstrated to be experimentally feasible.

High precision depolarisation measurements with an opaque test bench

We present a tool to investigate neutron depolarisation effects with 10−4 precision. The test bench consists of two opaque 3He cells with in-situ adiabatic fast passage flipping of the helium spin. The cells polarise a neutron beam to more than 99.99 % and analyse its polarisation with high accuracy. For depolarisation studies, a sample can be inserted between the two cells and its effect on a primarily highly polarised beam is analysed. The test bench has been validated at the cold neutron beam PF1B at Institut Laue-Langevin, France. We present here preliminary results for the wavelength range from 5Å to 7Å. Polarisation with super mirrors is limited to about 99.7%. Direct evidence of depolarisation in the order of 10−3 in polarising super mirrors was found by the test bench.

Mathematical treatment of adiabatic fast passage pulses for the computation of nuclear spin relaxation rates in proteins with conformational exchange

Although originally designed for broadband inversion and decoupling in NMR spectroscopy, recent methodological developments have introduced adiabatic fast passage (AFP) pulses into the field of protein dynamics. AFP pulses employ a frequency sweep, and have not only superior inversion properties with respect to offset effects, but they are also easily implemented into a pulse sequence. As magnetization is dragged from the +z to the −z direction, Larmor precession is impeded since magnetization becomes spin-locked, which is a potentially useful feature for the investigation of microsecond to millisecond dynamics. A major drawback of these pulses as theoretical prediction is concerned, however, results from their time-dependent offset: simulations of spin density matrices under the influence of a time-dependent Hamiltonian with non-commuting elements are costly in terms of computational time, rendering data analysis impracticable. In this paper we suggest several ways to reduce the computational time without compromising accuracy with respect to effects such as cross-correlated relaxation and modulation of the chemical shift.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10858-011-9539-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Adiabatic T2-preparation modules optimized for robustness toward cardiac motion and flow - a comparison with existing techniques at 3 Tesla

Background T2-imaging of the heart at 3 Tesla demands T2-preparations not only insensitive to B0 and B1, but also toward cardiac motion and flow in order to avoid flow artifacts and concomitant myocardial contamination and to preserve endocardial border definition. While more refocusing pulses per T2-prep duration improve robustness, they also increase SAR. We chose four BIREF-1 refocusing pulses (one adiabatic fast passage per pulse) to achieve motion-robustness while requiring lower energy than an equal number of pairs of adiabatic fast-passage. We compared two new techniques (NTs) using described scheme to MLEV4 [1] and adiabatic [2] schemes.

Optimised adiabatic fast passage spin flipping for 3He neutron spin filters

We describe here a method of performing adiabatic fast passage (AFP) spin flipping of polarized 3He used as a neutron spin filter (NSF) to polarize neutron beams. By reversing the spin states of the 3He nuclei the polarization of a neutron beam can be efficiently reversed allowing for the transmission of a neutron beam polarized in either spin state. Using an amplitude modulated frequency sweep lasting 500ms we can spin flip a polarized 3He neutron spin filter with only 1.8×10−5 loss in 3He polarization. The small magnetic fields (10–15G) used to house neutron spin filters mean the 3He resonant frequencies are low enough to be generated using a computer with a digital I/O card. The versatility of this systems allows AFP to be performed on any beamline or in any laboratory using 3He neutron spin filters and polarization losses can be minimised by adjusting sweep parameters.

Pharmacophore Mapping via Cross-Relaxation during Adiabatic Fast Passage

A novel NMR method is demonstrated for the investigation of protein ligand interactions. In this approach an adiabatic fast passage pulse, i.e. a long, weak pulse with a linear frequency sweep, is used to probe (1)H-(1)H NOEs. During the adiabatic fast passage the effective rotating-frame NOE is a weighted average of transverse and longitudinal cross-relaxation contributions that can be tuned by pulse power and frequency sweep rate. It is demonstrated that the occurrence of spin diffusion processes leads to sizable deviations from the theoretical relationship between effective relaxation rate and effective tilt angle in the spin lock frame and can be used to probe protein-ligand binding. This methodology comprises high sensitivity and ease of implementation. The feasibility of this technique is demonstrated with two protein complexes, vanillic acid bound to the quail lipocalin Q83 and NAD(+) and AMP binding to alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH).

Precision measurement of the electric quadrupole moment of 31Al and determination of the effective proton charge in the sd-shell

The electric quadrupole coupling constant of the 31Al ground state is measured to be νQ=|eQVzzh|=2196(21) kHz using two different β-NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) techniques. For the first time, a direct comparison is made between the continuous rf technique and the adiabatic fast passage method. The obtained coupling constants of both methods are in excellent agreement with each other and a precise value for the quadrupole moment of 31Al has been deduced: |Q(Al31)|=134.0(16) mb. Comparison of this value with large-scale shell-model calculations in the sd and sdpf valence spaces suggests that the 31Al ground state is dominated by normal sd-shell configurations with a possible small contribution of intruder states. The obtained value for |Q(Al31)| and a compilation of measured quadrupole moments of odd-Z even-N isotopes in comparison with shell-model calculations shows that the proton effective charge ep=1.1e provides a much better description of the nuclear properties in the sd-shell than the adopted value ep=1.3e.

In situ SEOP polarised 3He neutron spin filter for incident beam polarisation and polarisation analysis on neutron scattering instruments

We discuss the development and characterisation of a new in situ spin exchange optical pumping (SEOP) based 3 He neutron spin filter polarisation device. We present results from a recent test of the prototype system developed with the Institut Laue-Langevin. The polariser was installed on the polarised reflectometer CRISP at ISIS in the analyser position. The 3 He was pumped continuously in situ on the beamline . The system also integrated a 3 He adiabatic fast passage spin flipper that allowed reversal of the 3 He and therefore neutron polarisation state, allowing for measurement of all four polarisation cross-sections. The system was run for a number of days reaching a 3 He polarisation of 63%.

First Measurement of the NeutronβAsymmetry with Ultracold Neutrons

We report the first measurement of an angular correlation parameter in neutron beta decay using polarized ultracold neutrons (UCN). We utilize UCN with energies below about 200 neV, which we guide and store for approximately 30 s in a Cu decay volume. The interaction of the neutron magnetic dipole moment with a static 7 T field external to the decay volume provides a 420 neV potential energy barrier to the spin state parallel to the field, polarizing the UCN before they pass through an adiabatic fast passage spin flipper and enter a decay volume, situated within a 1 T field in a 2x2pi solenoidal spectrometer. We determine a value for the beta-asymmetry parameter A_{0}=-0.1138+/-0.0046+/-0.0021.