AFNMR/NQR signal enhancement via population transfer

Antiferromagnetic nuclear magnetic resonance (AFNMR) and nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) are useful techniques to characterize materials in bulk volumes without applying external static magnetic fields. For industrial materials characterization applications, it is crucial to maximize signal‐to‐noise ratio in the available time. We simulate the AFNMR and NQR signal enhancement via population transfer in single crystals and powders and predict the enhancement factors for half‐integer quadrupolar nuclei spin systems. Differences to conventional high‐field NMR population transfer experiments are emphasized. We restrict our discussion to electric field gradients with axial symmetry η = 0. Triple resonance tuned crossed coil experiments on CuFeS2 and In2O3 powders support the numerical results. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson Part A 43A: 147–156, 2015.