Magnetic resonance imaging of convection in laser-polarized xenon

We demonstrate nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging of the flow and dif fusion of laser-polarized xenon (Xe-129) gas undergoing convection above ev aporating laser-polarized liquid xenon. The large xenon NMR signal provided by the laser-polarization technique allows more rapid imaging than one can achieve with thermally polarized gas-liquid systems, permitting shorter ti me-scale events such as rapid gas flow and gas-liquid dynamics to be observ ed. Two-dimensional velocity-encoded imaging shows convective gas flow abov e the evaporating liquid xenon, and also permits the measurement of enhance d gas diffusion near regions of large velocity variation.