Ultrasonic Stimulation of High Order Nuclear Spin Multiple Quantum Coherence

College Of William And Mary, Williamsburg VA

Investigators

Abstract

In this Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER), funded by the Experimental Physical Chemistry Program of the Chemistry Division, Prof. Robert L. Vold and Professor Gina L. Hoatson of the College of William & Mary and their graduate and undergraduate research students will investigate the possibility of using the combination of radio-frequency and ultrasonic excitation of nuclear spin for achieving high-order multiple quantum coherence. The result of this research will be to enhance the resolution achievable with any given spectrometer system. As nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometers use higher and higher magnetic fields, the spectroscopic resolution, and hence the chemical information obtainable, increases. Existing technology puts an upper limit on the magnetic field strengths that are obtainable. With this SGER proposal, Profs. Vold and Hoatson hope to use ultrasonic excitation of their sample to increase the effective resolution of their high-field spectrometer. For a nucleus with a spin of 9/2, their experiment could yield an effective magnetic field of no less that 158 T. This represents a field many times larger than the highest magnetic fields currently achievable for NMR spectroscopy, and would open up new scientific avenues in magnetic resonance research.