Grant: Strategic Projects - Group
Institut national de la recherche scientifique
$214,636.00
Hyperpolarization of helium-3 through metastable exchange optical pumping at high pressure
EF 2013-14
Résumé
Helium-3 is an isotope of the more common element helium (helium-4) which is extracted from the nuclear decay products of tritium. Due to its odd number of nucleons, the nuclei of Helium-3 posses a magnetic moment and its gas can be polarized to a degree of several tens of % (hyper polarization). A gas of helium-3 atoms in the ground state with a high degree of nuclear polarization is highly useful for many applications in different fields such as nuclear physics, materials science, nanotechnology, quantum memory, and biophysics and medicine. In thermal equilibrium, the nuclear polarization of helium-3 induced by only applying a magnetic field is too weak to be useful for many of these applications. However, it is possible to polarize helium-3 to a high degree inside a plasma discharge through optical pumping using a continuous laser. In the so-called ""metastability exchange optical pumping process"" (MEOP) a nuclear polarization close to 100% can be obtained. However, the current technique operates at a very low pressure (mbar), while most applications require the use of samples of dense and highly polarized helium-3 near atmospheric pressures.The goal of this project is to achieve optimal polarization of helium-3 through MEOP near atmospheric pressure in a moderate magnetic field. This research will be done simultaneously on three fronts, taking advantage of the complementary strengths of our team: (i) the plasma discharge used to generate the helium-3 atomic metastable states that are optically pumped, (ii) relatively high magnetic fields (~ 1 Tesla), and (iii) the numerical modeling, combined with plasma diagnostics, of the excitation and polarization process taking place in the plasma. This project is a collaboration between two universities (INRS and Université de Montréal), a government organization (Atomic Energy of Canada Limited) and an industrial partner (Tyler Research Corporation) specialized in the development and commercialization of high-end medical and scientific instruments.
Programme
Strategic Projects - Group
Bénéficiaire
Emplacement
Quebec, Canada
Type de bénéficiaire
Academia
Type
Grant
Source
NSERC's Awards Data
Tel que publié
Application id
447624-2013
Name nom
Vidal, François
Department département
Centre Énergie, Matériaux et Télécommunications (ÉMT) Varennes
Organization id
56
Institution établissement
Institut national de la recherche scientifique
Province en
Québec
Province fr
Québec
Country en
CANADA
Country fr
CANADA
Fiscal year exercice financier
2013
Competition year année de concours
2013
Award amount
214636
Program id
STPGP
Program name en
Strategic Projects - Group
Program name fr
Projets stratégiques - De groupe
Group en
Research partnerships programs
Group fr
Programmes de partenariat
Committee code
1569
Committee name en
Strategic Projects Selection Panel - Manufacturing
Committee name fr
Comité de sélection des projets stratégiques - Fabrication
Area of application code
500
Area of application group en
Manufacturing processes and products
Area of application group fr
Procédés et produits industriels
Area of application en
Manufacturing processes and products
Area of application fr
Procédés et produits industriels
Research subject code
3107
Research subject group en
Physics
Research subject group fr
Physique
Research subject en
Plasma physics
Research subject fr
Physique des plasmas
Partie
1
Nb partie
3
Application title
Hyperpolarization of helium-3 through metastable exchange optical pumping at high pressure
Keyword
NSERC
Application summary
Helium-3 is an isotope of the more common element helium (helium-4) which is extracted from the nuclear decay products of tritium. Due to its odd number of nucleons, the nuclei of Helium-3 posses a magnetic moment and its gas can be polarized to a degree of several tens of % (hyper polarization). A gas of helium-3 atoms in the ground state with a high degree of nuclear polarization is highly useful for many applications in different fields such as nuclear physics, materials science, nanotechnology, quantum memory, and biophysics and medicine. In thermal equilibrium, the nuclear polarization of helium-3 induced by only applying a magnetic field is too weak to be useful for many of these applications. However, it is possible to polarize helium-3 to a high degree inside a plasma discharge through optical pumping using a continuous laser. In the so-called ""metastability exchange optical pumping process"" (MEOP) a nuclear polarization close to 100% can be obtained. However, the current technique operates at a very low pressure (mbar), while most applications require the use of samples of dense and highly polarized helium-3 near atmospheric pressures.The goal of this project is to achieve optimal polarization of helium-3 through MEOP near atmospheric pressure in a moderate magnetic field. This research will be done simultaneously on three fronts, taking advantage of the complementary strengths of our team: (i) the plasma discharge used to generate the helium-3 atomic metastable states that are optically pumped, (ii) relatively high magnetic fields (~ 1 Tesla), and (iii) the numerical modeling, combined with plasma diagnostics, of the excitation and polarization process taking place in the plasma. This project is a collaboration between two universities (INRS and Université de Montréal), a government organization (Atomic Energy of Canada Limited) and an industrial partner (Tyler Research Corporation) specialized in the development and commercialization of high-end medical and scientific instruments.
