Wilson Barros1, Ross William Mair1, Matthew S. Rosen1,2, Ronald Lee Walsworth1,2
1Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA, USA; 2Dept. of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
There has been recent interest in the use of MR velocimetery techniques to study flow of hyperpolarized noble gases with the aim of elucidating flow patterns in human airways during inhalation. We apply the Fourier-encoding (q-space) velocimetery method, which yields an image of the velocity spectrum for spins in the region of interest rather than a single value of velocity, to flowing hyperpolarized xenon gas. Both the spread of the probability distribution of velocities, and the signal attenuation from a double-PGSE experiment, allows discrimination between coherent and turbulent flows, and the effects of Brownian motion from dispersion.