High-accuracy liquid-sample β-NMR setup at ISOLDE

Recently there has been an increased interest to apply the sensitive fl-decay asymmetry detected nuclear magnetic resonance (fl-NMR) technique to biological studies. A liquid-sample fl-NMR setup was build at ISOLDE to allow such investigations and to use the resolution gain of liquid-state NMR in nuclear physics. As part of this setup a magnetic field locking system, a set of printed circuit board shimming coils, a sample exchange system, a set of compact fl-detectors and a custom experimental vacuum chamber were developed. The main magnetic field was stabilized down to the ppm level by the locking system while allowing the direct determination of the absolute magnetic field. The homogeneity of the magnetic field was improved to <= 5 ppm over the sample volume by the shimming coils. Time spent on changing samples was reduced by a factor of five by the liquid sample exchange system. During experiments it was possible to continuously observe the liquid sample thanks to the custom chamber and compact fl-detectors. The absolute field determination allows for a novel way to reference fl-NMR measurements, removing the need for time consuming reference measurements. The improved accuracy and resolution resulting from these innovations allows the study of the distribution of nuclear magnetization and (bio)chemicals using high-accuracy liquid-sample fl-NMR.