Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, 3(23), p. 1601104-1601104, 2013
DOI: 10.1109/tasc.2012.2231715
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We utilize a permanent magnet (PM) pair for sample prepolarization to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of low-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements with a tuned high- Tc rf superconducting quantum interference device as a signal detector. The sample is first prepolarized in the gap of the PM pair and then automatically transported to the measuring position underneath the tuned superconducting quantum interference device in a magnetically shielded room. The transportation can be repeated in order to perform signal averaging. Because of the strong magnetic polarization field of about 1 T and the highly sensitive detector with a noise floor of about 7 fT/√Hz, the nuclear magnetic resonance spectrum of 0.5 ml fluorobenzene reaches a signal-to-noise ratio of about 13 in a single measurement, and 55 with 30 times averaging. The MRI images are acquired by using filtered back projection reconstruction. Twenty-four projections are obtained by recording free induction decay or spin echo signals with a gradient field applied at angular steps of 7.5° each. Two-dimensional low-field MRI images of pepper and carrot pieces were acquired with different numbers of averages. Here, a spatial resolution of about 0.3 mm × 0.3 mm is achieved.