Pulsed magnetic field generation suited for low-field unilateral nuclear magnetic resonance systems

Abstract

Pulsed magnetic fields can be used to provide instantaneous localized magnetic field variations. In presence of static fields, pulsed field variations are often used to apply torques and in-effect to measure behavior of magnetic moments in different states. In this work, the design and experimental performance of a pulsed magnetic field generator suited for low static field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) applications is presented. One of the challenges of low bias field NMR measurements is low signal to noise ratio due to the comparable nature of the bias field and the pulsed field. Therefore, a circuit is designed to apply pulsed currents through an inductive load, leading to generation of pulsed magnetic fields which can temporarily overpower the effect of the bias field on magnetic moments. The designed circuit will be tuned to operate at the precession frequency of 1H (protons) placed in a bias field produced by permanent magnets. The designed circuit parameters may be tuned to operate under different bias conditions. Therefore, low field NMR measurements can be performed for different bias fields. Circuit simulations were used to determine design parameters, corresponding experimental measurements will be presented in this work.