NMR imaging of materials

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and NMR imaging (MRI) are being used more and more to characterize the heterogeneity and the distribution of relevant properties in materials like gels, polymers, elastomers, and catalysts. Moreover, spatially resolved NMR can be used for the investigations of particle dynamics in granular media and parameters of mass transport, a topic of interest in chemical engineering. The possibility to enhance the nuclear polarization by laser-polarized 129Xe and 3He can be combined with MRI of materials. This method opens up the possibility to obtain NMR parameter images of material surfaces.