Experimental Nuclear Magneto-Optic Spectroscopy

ended

This project aims at building a world-unique instrument for measuring novel nuclear magneto-optic spectroscopy (NMOS) phenomena. In NMOS, the differential optical response to polarized nuclear spins is probed. The project aims at observing effects both in the dispersive spectral range, such as Nuclear Spin-induced Cotton-Mouton effect in strong magnetic field (NSCM-B) and Nuclear Quadrupole-induced Cotton-Mouton effect (NQCM), as well as phenomena in the absorptive range such as Nuclear Spin-induced Circular Dichroism (NSCD). The possibility to measure the nuclear magneto-optic effects both in and out of optical resonance, in both Faraday and Voigt geometries and by using either thermal nuclear spin polarization or the more sensitive induced hyperpolarization, offers an advantage over the already established set-ups. The results obtained using the constructed apparatus will serve to prove the existing theoretical predictions of the NMOS phenomena. The ultimate goals are the observation and measurement of the novel NMOS effects as well as the assessment of their ability to resolve chemically different nuclear sites via nucleus-specific response. The proposed techniques offer advantages such as the ability to focus on a particular functional group and to gain local high-resolution information, the use of optical detection and thus, increased sensitivity and resolution over the (in principle) similar Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). Additionally, NMOS will provide access to new physical observables offering different kinds of localized information than conventional NMR. These achievements will in the future have a potential for opening a wide array of applications of the NMOS effects as high-resolution analytical spectroscopic techniques in molecular and materials research, with prospects to be used in molecular and life sciences and on the industrial scale.