Low-field classroom nuclear magnetic resonance system

The goal of this research was to develop a Low-field Classroom NMR system that will enable hands-on learning of NMR and MRI concepts in a Biological-Engineering laboratory course. A permanent magnet system, designed using finite-element modeling software, was built to produce a static field of Bo = 0.133 Tesla. A single coil was used for both transmitting the excitation pulses and detecting the NMR signal. The probe circuit is essentially an LC tank with a tunable resonant frequency. An FPGA is used to produce the excitation pulses and process the received NMR signals. This research has led to the ability to observe Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. 'Spin- Lattice' and 'Spin-Spin' relaxation times of glycerin samples can easily be measured. Future work will allow further MRI exploration by incorporating gradient magnetic field coils.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Zimmerman, Clarissa Lynette

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Edward S. Boyden.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/61245

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/61245