Achieving 1 ppm field homogeneity above 24 T: Application of differential mapping for shimming Keck and the Series Connected Hybrid magnets at the NHMFL

Abstract

Powered resistive and resistive-superconductive hybrid magnets can reach fields higher than superconducting NMR magnets but lack the field homogeneity and temporal stability needed for high resolution NMR. Due to field fluctuations in powered magnets, commercially available mapping systems fail to produce maps of these magnets with sufficient reproducibility, thus hampering attempts to improve homogeneity of the field they generate. Starting with a commercial mapper, we built a mapping system which uses a two-channel (measurement + reference) mapper probe. We used this system to map and then to shim two magnets of Florida Bitter type at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory in Tallahassee, FL. With a combination of passive (ferromagnetic) and active shims we achieved 2.3 ppm homogeneity in 1 cm diameter spherical volume (dsv) at 25.0 T in the Keck resistive magnet, and 0.9 ppm homogeneity in 1 cm dsv at 23.5, 28.2, and 35.2 T in the series-connected resistive-superconductive hybrid (SCH) magnet.

Keywords: 1.5 GHz; 1000 MHz; 1500 MHz; 25 T; 35.2 T; 36 T; Electromagnets; Field fluctuations; High fields; Homogeneity; Hybrid magnets; Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR); Resistive magnets; Series-connected hybrid (SCH); Shimming; Superconductive magnets.