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Nuclear magnetic resonance far off the Larmor frequency: Nonsecular resonances in CaF2

Michael Jurkutat1,*, Kajum Safiullin1, Pooja Singh1, Stephan L. Grage2, Jürgen Haase3, Boris V. Fine4, and Benno Meier1,5,†

  • *Contact author: michael.jurkutat@kit.edu
  • †Contact author: benno.meier@kit.edu

Phys. Rev. B 112, L060302 – Published 11 August, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/h2sn-wvzm

Abstract

High field magnetic resonance of nuclear spins is normally carried out at or near the Larmor frequency Ω0. Here, we report an observation of nonsecular nuclear spin resonances far off Ω0. These originate from nonsecular terms of the nuclear spin-spin interaction and provide means for the control of coupled two level systems. In systems of equivalent nuclear spins, nonsecular resonances were predicted to lead to anomalous, fast relaxation of the nuclear spin polarization. We report experimental results that are in excellent agreement with the predicted behavior.

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Unexpected Resonances Could Boost NMR’s Potency

Published 11 August, 2025

A radio-frequency field can be resonant with nuclear spins in a sample even if its frequency does not match a spectroscopic transition—a result that could enable new forms of NMR spectroscopy.

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  30. We increased the frequency by 5 kHz every 1 ms (990 µs irradiation with 10 µs breaks).

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