Applications of Continuous Wave Free Precession Sequences in Low-Field, Time-Domain NMR

Abstract

This review discusses the theory and applications of the Continuous Wave Free Precession (CWFP) sequence in low-field, time-domain nuclear magnetic resonance (TD-NMR). CWFP is a special case of the Steady State Free Precession (SSFP) regime that is obtained when a train of radiofrequency pulses, separated by a time interval T p shorter than the effective transverse relaxation time (T 2 *), is applied to a sample. Unlike regular pulsed experiments, in the CWFP regime, the amplitude is not dependent on T 1 . Therefore, T p should be as short as possible (limited by hardware). For T p < 0.5 ms, thousands of scans can be performed per second, and the signal to noise ratio can be enhanced by more than one order of magnitude. The amplitude of the CWFP signal is dependent on T 1 /T 2 ; therefore, it can be used in quantitative analyses for samples with a similar relaxation ratio. The time constant to reach the CWFP regime (T*) is also dependent on relaxation times and flip angle (θ). Therefore, T* has been used as a single shot experiment to measure T 1 using a low flip angle (5 • ) or T 2 , using θ = 180 • . For measuring T 1 and T 2 simultaneously in a single experiment, it is necessary to use θ = 90 • , the values of T* and M 0 , and the magnitude of CWFP signal |M ss |. Therefore, CWFP is an important sequence for TD-NMR, being an alternative to the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill sequence, which depends only on T 2 . The use of CWFP for the improvement of the signal to noise ratio in quantitative and qualitative analyses and in relaxation measurements are presented and discussed.to suppress these anomalies using a small variation of T p that cancels the echo component. In the same year, Schwenk [4] proposed the Quadriga Fourier Transform (QFT) to suppress these anomalies. The QFT method was based on a small variation in frequency offset. Although these procedures minimize these anomalies, SSFP sequences were not routinely used in high resolution NMR.We revised these methods and suggested some modifications to increase the applications of SSFP in high-resolution NMR using the Traff apodization function [5] to minimize the truncation problem, or processing the SSFP time domain signal with a parametric method based on Krylov Basis Diagonalization Method (KBDM) [6]. KBDM solves the truncation and phase anomalies but not the amplitude problem. Therefore, SSFP sequences cannot be used to efficiently enhance signal to noise ratio (SNR) in high-resolution NMR. SSFP sequences have been successfully used in magnetic resonance imaging [7,8] and in low-field, time-domain NMR [9][10][11]. The use of a SSFP sequence in low field time domain (TD-NMR) started in year 2000 [12,13]. The applications of SSFP sequences in TD-NMR can be performed under the drastic condition where T p < 1 ms. Under this condition, a truly continuous wave free precession (CWFP) regime is obtained [13]. Normally, CWFP sequences use T p < 0.5 ms, as T p has to be shorter than T 2 *, which is in the order of 1 ms in most TD-NMR spectrometers.In the CWFP regime, F...

Editorial on Special Issue “Applications of Low Field Magnetic Resonance”

“…The results demonstrate that high resolution J-coupled spectra are quantitative, and the common NMR observables, including Larmor frequency, heteronuclear and homonuclear J-couplings, relative signs of the J-coupling, chemical shift and relaxation times, are all measurable and are differentiable between molecules at low magnetic fields. The mini-review in [10] discusses the theory and applications of the Continuous Wave Free Precession (CWFP) sequence in low-field, TD-NMR. CWFP is a special case of the often used Steady State Free Precession (SSFP) sequences and, unlike regular pulsed experiments, in the CWFP regime the amplitude is not dependent on T 1 .…”