Scale Up of Hyperpolarized Xe Production

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Hyperpolarized xenon MRI has been demonstrated to have exquisite sensitivity in functional imaging of lungs, likely the most technically promising and commercially viable technique. Production of high quality hyperpolarized xenon has proven challenging. Three years ago our group at the University of New Hampshire identified an efficient method for polarization and developed an apparatus to exploit this regime, advancing the productivity of polarizers by more than one order of magnitude. Since that time, our efforts to further increase output by increasing laser power have not met with success. We have determined that laser heating of the gas leads to lower efficiency of the polarizer. We have invented a new apparatus that could essentially eliminate this barrier, allowing further scaling up of the polarized xenon output of our polarizer. We propose to implement this new invention and demonstrate an increase in polarization output of a factor of twenty over our existing polarizer. A polarizer with this output, roughly one liter per minute, will be able to meet the research and clinical requirements of real-time pulmonary functional imaging protocols. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death in the US. Hyperpolarized xenon MRI offers a highly quantitative and practical method for measuring functional parameters of lungs and tracking them over time, which would be a benefit for these patients, not only as a personal diagnostic agent, but also as a tool in the search for safe and effective inhaled therapeutic pharmaceuticals. In this proposal, the leading hyperpolarized xenon research group proposes to implement new technology that can scale up the output of our polarizer by another factor of twenty or more, achieving the goal of liter-per-minute production.