Ultrawide Band Multifrequency High-Field EMR Technique: A Methodology for Increasing Spectroscopic Information

Abstract

We report methodology that combines an ultrawide band multifrequency microwave system with technology of high magnetic fields for solving challenging problems in electron magnetic resonance (EMR) spectroscopy. This strategy has been made possible due to a novel EMR facility operating in an exceptionally wide range of microwave frequencies of 24 GHz to 3 THz, at magnetic fields up to 17 T, and in the temperature range of 1.6 to 330 K. The basic configuration of the multifrequency system works in a transmission mode and employs oversized cylindrical waveguides for routing the microwave power. A wide-band, low-noise, liquid helium cooled (4.2 K) InSb bolometer is used for signal detection. This approach results in an extremely wide-band performance, thus making it possible to employ a variety of solid-state millimeter and submillimeter microwave sources in combination with a far infrared laser microwave source for performing multifrequency EMR experiments. A complexity of resonant structures and related technical problems such as microphonics at high magnetic fields is virtually eliminated. The system is simple, yet sensitive, and has been revealed to be extremely advantageous while solving such problems as observation of AFMR transitions in spin-ordered systems, g-factor resolution enhancement in complex organic radicals, and resonance signal detection in EMR-silent spin systems having integer spin and large zero field splitting. A technical description of the multifrequency high-field EMR facility is presented and results of its performance tests are given. The potential utility of using the multifrequency high-field methodology in EMR studies is illustrated with selected examples of its recent applications.