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Magnetic Moments of Short-Lived Nuclei with Part-per-Million Accuracy: Toward Novel Applications of β-Detected NMR in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology

R. D. Harding et al.
Phys. Rev. X 10, 041061 – Published 28 December 2020

Abstract

We determine for the first time the magnetic dipole moment of a short-lived nucleus with part-per-million (ppm) accuracy. To achieve this 2-orders-of-magnitude improvement over previous studies, we implement a number of innovations into our β-detected nuclear magnetic resonance (β-NMR) setup at ISOLDE at CERN. Using liquid samples as hosts, we obtain narrow, subkilohertz-linewidth, resonances, while a simultaneous in situ H1 NMR measurement allows us to calibrate and stabilize the magnetic field to ppm precision, thus eliminating the need for additional β-NMR reference measurements. Furthermore, we use ab initio calculations of NMR shielding constants to improve the accuracy of the reference magnetic moment, thus removing a large systematic error. We demonstrate the potential of this combined approach with the 1.1 s half-life radioactive nucleus Na26, which is relevant for biochemical studies. Our technique can be readily extended to other isotopic chains, providing accurate magnetic moments for many short-lived nuclei. Furthermore, we discuss how our approach can open the path toward a wide range of applications of the ultrasensitive β-NMR in physics, chemistry, and biology.

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  • Received 25 February 2020
  • Revised 4 September 2020
  • Accepted 20 November 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.10.041061

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Nuclear Physics

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Popular Summary

The magnetic dipole moment of an atomic nucleus reveals the distribution of protons and neutrons. It is also at the heart of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), a technique used in medical imaging as well as biology, chemistry, and physics research. Researchers can now determine moments of stable nuclei with part-per-million (ppm) accuracy. However, those of short-lived nuclei are known only at the part-per-104 level. Here, we determine the magnetic moment of a short-lived nucleus with ppm accuracy by using β-NMR, a technique with up to a billionfold more sensitivity than conventional NMR.

In traditional NMR, when a radio-frequency magnetic field perturbs a nucleus, it responds by emitting a characteristic electromagnetic signal. β-NMR takes this a step further and detects beta particles emitted by a short-lived nucleus. The response of the nucleus to the magnetic perturbation changes the directions in which the particles fly off. This, in turn, reveals details about the immediate neighborhood of the nucleus or even provides a measurement of its magnetic moment.

In our experiments, we combine, for the first time, several technical solutions with quantum chemistry calculations, and we implement these into our β-NMR setup at CERN. Liquid samples allow us to obtain narrow resonances from the short-lived probe nucleus Na26, in situ H1 NMR signals provide an absolute magnetic field value, and calculations lead to accurate values of the NMR shielding.

Our approach can be extended to other elements and allows for a novel universal referencing scheme in β-NMR. This should lead to high-accuracy magnetic moment studies for many short-lived nuclei, of interest for fundamental and nuclear-structure research. It can also open a path toward applications in chemistry and biology research, to study metal ion interactions with biomolecules.

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Vol. 10, Iss. 4 — October - December 2020

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