NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE-DETECTING APPARATUS HAVING POLARIZED RARE GAS-PRODUCING APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MEASURING NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE USING THE APPARATUS

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To produce a polarized rare gas safely by passing a mixed gas of a rare gas, an optical pumping catalyst and a quencher gas in one direction in a flow cell, radiating an stimulation light and applying a magnetic field. SOLUTION: Flow rates of a rare gas and a quencher gas passing through pressure adjusters 16, 17 are adjusted by mass flow controllers 10, 11 respectively. After impurities are removed from the gases through highly purifying devices 8, 9, the gases are mixed with an optical pumping agent steam volatilizing from an optical pumping agent storage container and introduced in an stimulation flow cell 1. the rare gas is preferably xenon 129, helium 3 or the like, the quencher gas is preferably nitrogen gas, hydrogen or the like, and the optical pumping agent is preferably cesium, rubidium or the like. A diode laser light 2 is radiated perpendicularly in a circulation direction of the gas in the flow cell 1. An electromagnet 13 is arranged so that a line of magnetic force passes perpendicularly to an irradiation face. the rare gas polarized at the flow cell 1 is introduced to a nuclear magnetic resonance-detecting apparatus 14, where a nuclear magnetic resonance is measured.