Pulsed Gradient Spin Echo Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Measurement and Simulation of Two-Fluid Taylor Vortex Flow in a Vertically Oriented Taylor–Couette Device

Magnetic resonance microscopy and Ansys Fluent^? computational fluid dynamics simulation have been used to classify Taylor vortex flows (TVF) for several single fluid and axially stratified two-fluid systems in a vertically oriented Taylor–Couette device. A Rheo-NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) Couette system (Magritek Ltd, New Zealand) with a 1.05-mm gap was used to evaluate the transition from Couette flow to TVF in 1.65 cSt silicone oil, 1 cSt deionized water, and 0.65 cSt silicone oil. The rotation rate at which instability onset occurred agreed between experiment and simulation, as did the critical wavelength. Velocities were mapped for axially stratified two-fluid systems. The vortex containing the two-fluid interface was found to form with a significantly longer wavelength than that observed in the pure fluids. For experiments and simulations in the TVF regime, a region with no secondary flows was found at the interface, indicating interface stabilization by surface tension forces.     

NMR measurement of nonlocal dispersion in complex flows

The flow and diffusion driven separation of initially adjacent liquid molecules is known as dispersion. The primary physical quantity describing this process, the nonlocal dispersion tensor, provides insight regarding both the spatial and temporal correlations of molecular velocity fluctuations in complex flows. We here propose and demonstrate a nuclear magnetic resonance method for the measurement of this tensor, validating its implementation for the case of cylindrical Couette flow, and demonstrating its application to the study of fluid dispersion in a random bead pack.     

Combined Use of 2-D NMR Correlation Experiments, GIAO DFT 13C Chemical Shifts and 1-D NOESY Methods in Regioisomeric and Conformational Structure Determination of Cyclophanes in Solution

The combined application of two-dimensional nuclear magnetic resonance (2-D NMR) correlation experiments and gauge-including atomic orbital (GIAO) ¹³C NMR chemical shift calculations allowed reliable and simple determination of regioisomeric structure of heterocyclic substituents on the calix[4]arene lower rim. Moreover, the 1-D double pulsed field gradient nuclear Overhauser effect technique allows quick and efficient measurement of small nuclear Overhauser effects and, in doing so, establishes a 3-D structure of calix[4]arene simply and unequivocally. In general, these methods may find application in the regio- and stereoisomeric structure determination of complicated macrocyclic compounds.     

A New Approach of Two-Dimensional the NMR Relaxation Measurement in Flowing Fluid

Driven-equilibrium fast saturation recovery (DEFSR), as a new method for two-dimensional (2-D) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation measurement based on pulse sequence in flowing fluid, is proposed. The two-dimensional functional relationship between the ratio of transverse relaxation time to longitudinal relaxation time of fluid (T ₁/T ₂) and T ₁ distribution is obtained by means of DEFSR with only two one-dimensional measurements. The rapid measurement of relaxation characteristics for flowing fluid is achieved. A set of the down-hole NMR fluid analysis system is independently designed and developed for the fluid measurement. The accuracy and practicability of DEFSR are demonstrated.     

Parallel-plate RF resonator imaging of chemical shift resolved capillary flow

Magnetic resonance imaging has been introduced to study flow in microchannels using pure phase spatial encoding with a microfabricated parallel-plate nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) probe. The NMR probe and pure phase spatial encoding enhance the sensitivity and resolution of the measurement. In this paper, ¹H NMR spectra and images were acquired at 100 MHz. The B₁ magnetic field is homogeneous and the signal-to-noise ratio of 30 μl doped water for a single scan is 8×10⁴. The high sensitivity of the probe enables velocity mapping of the fluids in the micro-channel with a spatial resolution of 13×13 μm. The parallel-plate probe with pure phase encoding permits the acquisition of NMR spectra; therefore, chemical shift resolved velocity mapping was also undertaken. Results are presented which show separate velocity maps for water and methanol flowing through a straight circular micro-channel. Finally, future performance of these techniques for the study of microfluidics is extrapolated and discussed.     

Magnetic resonance imaging of single- and two-phase flow in fixed-bed reactors

Magnetic resonance imaging and flow visualization techniques are increasingly used to study transport processes in chemical and biochemical reactors. Three recent case studies from our own research program are reported, each illustrating quite different applications of magnetic resonance techniques in such applications. First, two-phase flow in a trickle-bed reactor is considered. Images of the steady-state gas-liquid distribution are obtained which yield quantitative measures of liquid holdup and wetting efficiency. Second, a radiofrequency pulse sequence based on that for rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement is used to perform ultrafast visualization of gas-liquid flow in individual channels within a ceramic monolith. Finally,¹H volume-selective nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy is employed to perform an in situ spatially resolved study of the extent of conversion of the liquid-phase esterification reaction of methanol and acetic acid, catalyzed by an acid catalyst (Amberlyst 15 ion exchange resin) in a fixed-bed reactor. In particular, the effect of the superficial flow rate of the feed on conversion is investigated.     

利用高温超导直流量子干涉器件进行10$lt;sup$gt;-6$lt;/sup$gt; T量级磁场下核磁共振的研究

研究了水样品在10^-6 T量级磁场下的核磁共振谱.核磁共振信号由一个工作在液氮温度的高温超导直流量子干涉仪记录,测量在一个简易磁屏蔽室中进行.在7—70 μT的磁场范围内都观察到了15 ml水样品的核磁共振信号.相应的^1H的核磁共振频率为300—3000 Hz.在实验中获取的单次测量信噪比约为4,通过对信号的100次平均,信噪比可达到约40.进一步讨论了剩余磁场、预极化时间和采样时间对结果的影响.最后用数字滤波之后平均的方法初步得到了时域的自由感应衰减信号. 关键词： 超导量子干涉仪 核磁共振     

Dispersion measurements using time-of-flight remote detection MRI

Remote detection nuclear magnetic resonance and magnetic resonance imaging can be used to study fluid flow and dispersion in a porous medium from a purely Eulerian point of view (i.e., in a laboratory frame of reference). Information about fluid displacement is obtained on a macroscopic scale in a long-time regime, while local velocity distributions are averaged out. It is shown how these experiments can be described using the common flow propagator formalism and how experimental data can be analyzed to obtain effective porosity, flow velocity inside the porous medium, fluid dispersion and flow tracing of fluid.     

SQUID-detected microtesla MRI in the presence of metal

In magnetic resonance imaging performed at fields of 1 T and above, the presence of a metal insert can distort the image because of susceptibility differences within the sample and modification of the radiofrequency fields by screening currents. Furthermore, it is not feasible to perform nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy or acquire a magnetic resonance image if the sample is enclosed in a metal container. Both problems can be overcome by substantially lowering the NMR frequency. Using a microtesla imaging system operating at 2.8 kHz, with a superconducting quantum interference device as the signal detector, we have obtained distortion-free images of a phantom containing a titanium bar and three-dimensional images of an object enclosed in an aluminum can; in both cases high-field images are inaccessible.     

Rapid Detection of Infestation of Apple Fruits by the Peach Fruit Moth, Carposina sasakii Matsumura, Larvae Using a 0.2-T Dedicated Magnetic Resonance Imaging Apparatus

Infestation of harvested apple fruits by the peach fruit moth (Carposina sasakii Matsumura) was studied using a dedicated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus equipped with a 0.2-T permanent magnet. Infested holes on the three-dimensional (3-D) images tracked ecological movements of peach fruit moth larvae within the food fruits, and thus in their natural habitat. Sensitive short solenoid coil and surface coil detectors were devised to shorten measurement times. The short solenoid coil detected infestation holes at a rate of 6.4 s per image by the single-slice 2-D measurement. The multi-slice 2-D measurement provided six slice images of a fruit within 2 min taken by the two detectors. These results indicate that the 0.2-T MRI apparatus allows one to distinguish sound fruits from infested ones, and also as a means for plant protection and the preservation of natural ecological systems in foreign trade.     

Playing with quantum Hall effects and single-electron-tunneling effects

The usefulness of quantum Hall effect (QHE) conductors and quantum dot (QD) devices is revealed by reviewing five remarkable effects. The first is the sensitive detection of terahertz (THz) radiation by QHE conductors. The second is the imaging of THz emission from non-equilibrium carriers in QHE conductors, by using scanning THz microscopes. The third is the single-photon detection of THz radiation in strong magnetic fields, which is carried out by incorporating a QHE electron system into a QD. Individual events of single-THz-photon absorption within the QD via cyclotron resonance cause the QD to electrically polarize, which, in turn, is detected as switches of the tunnel conductance through the QD. The fourth is the single-photon detection of THz radiation by using double QDs in the absence of a magnetic field. Both of the photon detectors are implemented in gate-voltage-induced lateral GaAs/AlGaAs QDs, and exploiting the extraordinary sensitivity of single-electron transistors to the charge. The fifth is the coherent control of nuclear spins in QHE conductors. Nuclear spins are (i) electrically polarized by unequally populating spin-split QHE edge channels via the hyperfine interaction, (ii) coherently controlled via pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance induced by local RF magnetic fields, and (iii) finally detected by the edge channels through resistance change of the Hall device. The controlled nuclear spins are limited to those along the edge channels, on the order of 10⁹.     

Measurement of heat transfer coefficients by nuclear magnetic resonance

We demonstrate an experimental method for the measurement of heat transfer coefficient for a fluid system by magnetic resonance imaging. In this method, the temporal variation of thermally induced nuclear shielding is monitored and the average heat transfer coefficient is measured as a function of fluid velocity. We examine the cases of natural convection and forced convection at fluid velocity up to 0.8 m s(-1). These cases correspond to low dimensionless Biot (Bi) number where the heat transfer is limited by thermal convection. We demonstrate the NMR method for two simple geometries, a cylinder and a sphere, to experimentally determine the heat transfer coefficient (h) in two NMR imaging and spectroscopy systems through measuring three NMR parameters, the chemical shift, magnetization and spin self diffusion coefficient.     

Nuclear magnetic order in PrF3

PrF₃ is an enhanced nuclear paramagnet for which the resonance parameters have been determined both by acoustic resonance (Al’tshuleret al., 1979 [1]) and by conventional nuclear magnetic resonance (Nielsen, 1983 [2]). In this paper, the temperature at which the nuclei of the single stable isotope¹⁴¹Pr,I=5/2, enter an ordered state is estimated to beca. 0.1 mK, smaller than the overall nuclear electric quadrupole splitting 6P/h=1.2 mK. Possible arrangements of the nuclear moments in the ordered state are discussed, together with the requirements for a neutron diffraction measurement.     

Measurement of pulsatile flow using MRI and a Bayesian technique of probability analysis

This work shows that complete spatial information of periodic pulsatile fluid flows can be rapidly obtained by Bayesian probability analysis of flow encoded magnetic resonance imaging data. These data were acquired as a set of two-dimensional images (complete two-dimensional sampling of k-space or reciprocal position space) but with a sparse (six point) and nonuniform sampling of q-space or reciprocal displacement space. This approach enables more precise calculation of fluid velocity to be achieved than by conventional two q-sample phase encoding of velocities, without the significant time disadvantage associated with the complete flow measurement required for Fourier velocity imaging. For experimental comparison with the Bayesian analysis applied to nonuniformly sampled q-space data, a Fourier velocity imaging technique was used with one-dimensional spatial encoding within a selected slice and a uniform sampling of q-space using 64 values of the pulsed gradients to encode fluid flow. Because the pulsatile flows were axially symmetric within the resolution of the experiment, the radial variation of fluid velocity, in the direction of the pulsed gradients, was reconstructed from one-dimensional spatial projections of the velocity by exploiting the central slice theorem. Data were analysed for internal consistency using linearised flow theories. The results show that nonuniform q-space sampling followed by Bayesian probability analysis is at least as accurate as the combined uniform q-space sampling with Fourier velocity imaging and projection reconstruction method. Both techniques give smaller errors than a two-point sampling of q-space (the conventional flow encoding experiment).     

MRI investigation of granular interface rheology using a new cylinder shear apparatus

The rheology of granular materials near an interface is investigated through proton magnetic resonance imaging. A new cylinder shear apparatus has been inserted in the magnetic resonance imaging device, which allows the control of the radial confining pressure exerted by the outer wall on the grains and the measurement of the torque on the inner shearing cylinder. A multi-layer velocimetry sequence has been developed for the simultaneous measurement of velocity profiles in different sample zones, while the measurement of the solid fraction profile is based on static imaging of the sample. This study describes the influence of the roughness of the shearing interface and of the transverse confining walls on the granular interface rheology.     

Parallel MRI at microtesla fields

Parallel imaging techniques have been widely used in high-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Multiple receiver coils have been shown to improve image quality and allow accelerated image acquisition. Magnetic resonance imaging at ultra-low fields (ULF MRI) is a new imaging approach that uses SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device) sensors to measure the spatially encoded precession of pre-polarized nuclear spin populations at microtesla-range measurement fields. In this work, parallel imaging at microtesla fields is systematically studied for the first time. A seven-channel SQUID system, designed for both ULF MRI and magnetoencephalography (MEG), is used to acquire 3D images of a human hand, as well as 2D images of a large water phantom. The imaging is performed at 46 mu T measurement field with pre-polarization at 40 mT. It is shown how the use of seven channels increases imaging field of view and improves signal-to-noise ratio for the hand images. A simple procedure for approximate correction of concomitant gradient artifacts is described. Noise propagation is analyzed experimentally, and the main source of correlated noise is identified. Accelerated imaging based on one-dimensional undersampling and 1D SENSE (sensitivity encoding) image reconstruction is studied in the case of the 2D phantom. Actual threefold imaging acceleration in comparison to single-average fully encoded Fourier imaging is demonstrated. These results show that parallel imaging methods are efficient in ULF MRI, and that imaging performance of SQUID-based instruments improves substantially as the number of channels is increased.     

Exact solutions for the flow of non-Newtonian fluid with fractional derivative in an annular pipe

Generally speaking, rheological properties of materials are specified by their so-called constitutive equations. The simplest constitutive equation for a fluid is a Newtonian one, on which the classical Navier-Stokes theory is based. The mechanical behavior of many fluids is well described by this theory. However, there are many rheologically compli- cated fluids such as polymer solutions, blood and heavy oils which are inadequately de- scribed by a Newtonian constitutive equation that does …     

Magnetic resonance imaging of convection in laser-polarized xenon

We demonstrate nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging of the flow and diffusion of laser-polarized xenon (129Xe) gas undergoing convection above evaporating laser-polarized liquid xenon. The large xenon NMR signal provided by the laser-polarization technique allows more rapid imaging than one can achieve with thermally polarized gas-liquid systems, permitting shorter time-scale events such as rapid gas flow and gas-liquid dynamics to be observed. Two-dimensional velocity-encoded imaging shows convective gas flow above the evaporating liquid xenon, and also permits the measurement of enhanced gas diffusion near regions of large velocity variation.     

Thermoconvective flow velocity in a high-speed magnetofluid seal after it has stopped

Convective flow is investigated in the high-speed (linear velocity of the shaft seal is more than 1 m/s) magnetofluid shaft seal after it has been stopped. Magnetic fluid is preliminarily heated due to viscous friction in the moving seal. After the shaft has been stopped, nonuniform heated fluid remains under the action of a high-gradient magnetic field. Numerical analysis has revealed that in this situation, intense thermomagnetic convection is initiated. The velocity of magnetic fluid depends on its viscosity. For the fluid with viscosity of 2 × 10^?4 m²/s the maximum flow velocity within the volume of magnetic fluid with a characteristic size of 1 mm can attain a value of 10 m/s.     

Mechanical detection of nuclear spin relaxation in a micron-size crystal

A room temperature nuclear magnetic resonance force microscope (MRFM), fitted in a 1 tesla electromagnet, has been used to measure the nuclear spin relaxation of ¹H in a micron-size (70 ng) crystal of ammonium sulfate. NMR sequences, combining both pulsed and continuous wave radio-frequency fields, have allowed us to measure mechanically T₂ and T₁, the transverse and longitudinal spin relaxation times. Because two spin species with different T₁ values are measured in our 7 μm thick crystal, magnetic resonance imaging of their spatial distribution inside the sample section have been performed. To understand quantitatively the measured signal, we carefully study the influence of spin-lattice relaxation and non-adiabaticity of the continuous-wave sequence on the intensity and time dependence of the detected signal. Received 23 February 2000