| abstract |
A method and system for producing polarized 129Xe gas in an economical manner, allowing the polarized 129Xe gas to be used commercially in research and clinical applications. The production system of the present invention includes a holding tank (12) for holding an unpolarized xenon gas/nitrogen gas mixture. The holding tank (12) is in communication with a temperature controlled polarization chamber (14). A wide spectrum high power light source (22) such as a diode laser array is in communication with the polarization chamber (14). The alkali metal vapor is optically pumped by the light source (22). The polarization chamber (14), which contains a given quantity of an alkali metal and its associated vapor, receives the gaseous mixture from the holding tank (12). The optically pumped alkali metal vapor atoms then collide with the xenon gas atoms, thus polarizing the xenon atoms. The entire gaseous mixture expands out of the polarization chamber (14) into a device (24) that separates the alkali metal vapor atoms from the polarized 129Xe atoms. The polarized 129Xe are then controllably output to a system/user interface (32) for application purposes. |