title: Single or triple gradients?
abstract: Pulsed Field Gradients (PFGs) have become ubiquitous tools not only for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), but also for NMR experiments designed to study translational diffusion, for spatial encoding in ultra-fast spectroscopy, for the selection of desirable coherence transfer pathways, for the suppression of solvent signals, and for the elimination of zero-quantum coherences. Some of these experiments can only be carried out if three orthogonal gradients are available, while others can also be implemented using a single gradient, albeit at some expense of performance. This paper discusses some of the advantages of triple- with respect to single-gradient probes. By way of examples we discuss (i) the measurement of small diffusion coefficients making use of the long spin-lattice relaxation times of nuclei with low gyromagnetic ratios gamma such as nitrogen-15, and (ii) the elimination of zero-quantum coherences in Exchange or Nuclear Overhauser Spectroscopy (EXSY or NOESY) experiments, as well as in methods relying on long-lived (singlet) states to study very slow exchange or diffusion processes.
authors.affiliation: Institut des Sciences et Ingénierie Chimiques, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Batochime, Lausanne 1015, Vaud, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Riddhiman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sarkar
authors.forename: Detlef
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moskau
authors.forename: Fabien
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ferrage
authors.forename: Paul R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Vasos
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bodenhausen