Overhauser dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) is a versatile method for the hyperpolarization of nuclei in a liquid environment. It takes advantage of the comparatively large equilibrium polarization of unpaired electron spins, which can be transferred to nuclear spins via dipolar or scalar coupling mechanisms and therefore drastically enhance the NMR signal. This method allows to access protons as well as ¹³C and other nuclei such as ¹⁵N, ¹⁹F and ³¹P. Since the transfer of electron spin polarization is realized by saturation of the electron spin transitions, electron spin resonance (ESR) methods and equipment are required for these experiments, such as microwave resonators and amplifiers.

DNP-Setup:

Some of the aspects covered in our group:

1. The development and improvement of a mobile DNP polarizer, which can operate closely to high field NMR spectrometers.
2. Investigation of polarization transfer and coupling mechanisms in various systems: i.e. analysis of contributions from dipolar and scalar coupling in molecular interactions
3. Development of hardware and methods for the combination of DNP with other NMR techniques.