- Lv, X;
- Walton, JH;
- Druga, E;
- Wang, F;
- Aguilar, A;
- McKnelly, T;
- Nazaryan, R;
- Liu, FL;
- Wu, L;
- Shenderova, O;
- Vigneron, DB;
- Meriles, CA;
- Reimer, JA;
- Pines, A;
- Ajoy, A
Multichannel imaging -- the ability to acquire images of an object through
more than one imaging mode simultaneously -- has opened interesting new
perspectives in areas ranging from astronomy to medicine. Visible optics and
magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offer complementary advantages of resolution,
speed and depth of penetration, and as such would be attractive in combination.
In this paper, we take first steps towards marrying together optical and MR
imaging in a class of biocompatible particulate materials constructed out of
diamond. The particles are endowed with a high density of quantum defects
(Nitrogen Vacancy centers) that under optical excitation fluoresce brightly in
the visible, but also concurrently electron spin polarize. This allows the
hyperpolarization of lattice 13C nuclei to make the particles over three-orders
of magnitude brighter than in conventional MRI. Dual-mode optical and MR
imaging permits immediate access to improvements in resolution and
signal-to-noise especially in scattering environments. We highlight additional
benefits in background-free imaging, demonstrating lock-in suppression by
factors of 2 and 5 in optical and MR domains respectively. Ultimate limits
could approach as much as two orders of magnitude in each domain. Finally,
leveraging the ability of optical and MR imaging to simultaneously probe
Fourier-reciprocal domains (real and k-space), we elucidate the ability to
employ hybrid sub-sampling in both conjugate spaces to vastly accelerate
dual-image acquisition, by as much as two orders of magnitude in practically
relevant sparse-imaging scenarios. This is accompanied by a reduction in
optical power by the same factor. Our work suggests interesting possibilities
for the simultaneous optical and low-field MR imaging of targeted diamond
nanoparticles.