Researchers from the University of Queensland, led by James Eills and Michael C. D. Tayler, have made a significant discovery in the field of nuclear spin coherence, which could have implications for the energy industry, particularly in the area of magnetic field sensing and imaging.
The team has identified a unique, long-lived nuclear spin state in a common molecule, fumarate, that is remarkably stable and observable at extremely low magnetic fields. This state, known as a clock transition, is well-known in atomic and solid-state systems but has been largely unexplored in molecular liquids. The researchers demonstrated that this transition in fumarate exhibits a frequency minimum of just 2 Hz near a magnetic field of 400 nanoteslas (nT), making it highly insensitive to perturbations in the magnetic field.
The key finding is that this transition has a lifetime of 25 seconds, which is about three times longer than the longest single-spin coherence lifetime observed previously. This longevity makes it a promising candidate for applications that require stable and precise magnetic field measurements. The researchers also showed that this transition is sensitive to effective pseudo-fields, including the internal dipolar field of the sample, which could be useful for detecting and imaging magnetic properties in various materials.
One practical application for the energy sector could be in the development of advanced magnetic sensors for oil and gas exploration. These sensors could be used to detect subtle changes in the Earth’s magnetic field caused by the presence of subsurface hydrocarbons, providing a non-invasive and cost-effective method for resource exploration. Additionally, the long-lived coherence could be utilized in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques for enhanced imaging of geological samples or materials used in energy storage and conversion devices.
The research was published in the journal Nature Communications, and it represents a significant step forward in our understanding of nuclear spin coherence in molecular liquids. The findings could open up new avenues for the development of advanced magnetic sensing and imaging technologies with wide-ranging applications in the energy industry.
This article is based on research available at arXiv.