In this award, funded by the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program of the Division of Chemistry, Professor Thomas Skinner of Wright State University and his graduate student researchers will be supported to investigate the development of new pulse sequences for use in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy using optimal control methods. Prof. Skinner and his students will develop robust methods that will work in experiments where other methods fail. In addition, in this grant period, Prof. Skinner's group will begin to work on developing pulse sequences for use in X-band EPR spectroscopy.
NMR and EPR spectroscopy are workhorse techniques used by chemists, chemical engineers, materials scientists, medical researchers, and other scientists in many more fields where determine molecular structures is critical for advancing understanding. Typically radio-frequency pulses are used to interrogate the sample in these techniques. Prof. Skinner's group is investigating the creation of new kinds of robust pulse sequences that are less susceptible to the effects of distortion or magnetic field inhomogeneity. The results of this work will yield new tools that will increase the speed with which these experiments can be done, without introducing artifacts. The broad dissemination of this work is increased through the continued collaboration with an industry leader in NMR and EPR instrumentation, making the results of this research widely available to a large community of users. In addition, Prof. Skinner's students are trained in cutting edge methods in a scientific area that shows continued growth, guaranteeing that they will have valuable skills for the scientific/technical workforce.
