E-Thesis 111 views 61 downloads
Developing and Assessing a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Method for Measuring Nuclear Spin Conversion of Ground State Polyatomic Molecules / THOMAS CARTER
Swansea University Author: THOMAS CARTER
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Copyright: the author, Thomas Carter, 2026. Distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 License (CC BY-NC 4.0)
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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUThesis.71844
Abstract
The phenomenon of nuclear spin conversion is observed in a wide variety of molecules with a wide variety of experimental methods. This thesis presents and NMR method for measuring nuclear spin conversion in water isolated in an argon cryomatrix. The work serves as a complement to existing fourier tr...
| Published: |
Swansea
2026
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| Institution: | Swansea University |
| Degree level: | Doctoral |
| Degree name: | Ph.D |
| Supervisor: | Alexandrowicz, G., and Chadwick, H. |
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71844 |
| Abstract: |
The phenomenon of nuclear spin conversion is observed in a wide variety of molecules with a wide variety of experimental methods. This thesis presents and NMR method for measuring nuclear spin conversion in water isolated in an argon cryomatrix. The work serves as a complement to existing fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) studies of nuclear spin conversion in the same system. FTIR has traditionally been preferred over NMR due to its significantly higher sensitivity, however, the results obtained here evidence that measuring the nuclear spin conversion (NSC) of matrix-isolated water samples with NMR is entirely feasible, with potential to outperform FTIR in high concentration measurements where the presence of broad background peaks renders FTIR infeasible.As a compliment to this work, the thesis also discusses experiments attempting to measure hyperpolarised signal from a magnetically focussed methane beam. A hyperpolarisation method which theoretically should allow the NMR detection of molecules at a scale equivalent to a single surface layer. While the overall measurements were unsuccessful, the technique is highlighted as a potential method for answering the currently outstanding question: “Is molecular hyperpolarisation preserved during adsorption to a cold surface?” |
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| Keywords: |
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, NMR, Nuclear Spin Conversion, NSC, Water, Methane, Argon, Cryomatrix |
| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |
| Funders: |
ERC consolidator grant |