Optical Hyperpolarization of Nuclear Spins in Nanodiamonds

Dynamic nuclear spin polarization allows to enhance signals in NMR and MRI by orders in magnitude. We show that electron spin of NV centers in diamond can be used as efficient source of nuclear spin polarization allowing to orient nuclear spins associated with ¹³C in nanodiamonds. We show that coherent control tools allow to realize efficient polarization transfer in randomly oriented nanodiamonds including isotopically engineered diamond nanoparticles. Efficient hyperpolarization together with long spin lattice relaxation time of diamond nuclear spins has the potential for applications in magnetic resonance imaging. Furthermore, hyperpolarized nanodiamonds can be employed as spin batterie for polarization transfer to external nuclear spins.