Some practical aspects of B0 gradient pulses

Abstract

Pulsed field gradients used together with trim pulses may cause artifacts in NMR spectra that originate from partial refocusing of dephased magnetization. These effects can reduce the efficiency of solvent suppression. The duration of the trim and PFG pulses should be in the range in which refocusing is negligible. Background gradients due to bad shimming also interfere with the B(0) field gradient pulses, producing gradient-recalled echoes that reduce the receiver gain for NMR experiments. The shim settings can be optimized using simple experiments, as described in this paper. Eddy currents that cannot be completely compensated by adjustments of preemphasis induce phase shifts in NMR signals. The decay constants for a given spectrometer setup can easily be measured. If the experiment does not allow for proper compensation delays, the phase of the pulses must be adjusted to compensate for these phase shifts.