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Title: DC SQUID detection of new magnetic resonance phenomena

Thesis/Dissertation ·
OSTI ID:6973928

A dc Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) was used as a tuned radio-frequency amplifier at liquid helium temperatures to detect very-low-signal magnetic resonance phenomena. Three experiments were performed. In the first experiment, a dc SQUID was used to detect pulsed nuclear quadrupole resonance at about 30 MHz. At a bath temperature of 4.2K, a total system noise temperature of 6 +/- 1K was achieved, with a quality factor Q of 2500. A novel Q-spoiler, consisting of a series array of Josephson tunnel junction, reduced the ring-down time of the tuned circuit after each pulse. The minimum number of nuclear Bohr magnetons observable from a free-precession signal after a single pulse was about 2 x 10/sup 16/ in a bandwidth of 10 kHz. In the second experiment, a sample of nuclear spins was placed in the inductor of a tuned LCR circuit and the spectral density of current fluctuations in the circuit was measured using a dc SQUID as an rf amplifier. The measurements were made in liquid helium at 1.5K on samples of NaClO/sub 3/ and KClO/sub 3/, each of which exhibit a /sup 35/Cl NQR transition at about 30 MHz. In the third experiment, precessing nuclear quadrupole moments were observed to induce oscillating electric dipole moments in neighboring atoms. The /sup 35/Cl nuclei of a single crystal of NaClO/sub 3/ placed between the plates of a capacitor were excited into precession by a rf pulse.

Research Organization:
California Univ., Berkeley (USA)
OSTI ID:
6973928
Resource Relation:
Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English