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Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in the geomagnetic field is conventionally referred to as Earth's field NMR (EFNMR). EFNMR is a special case of low field NMR. When a sample is placed in a constant magnetic field and stimulated (perturbed) by a time-varying (e.g., pulsed or alternating) magnetic field, NMR active nuclei resonate at characteristic frequencies. Examples of such NMR active nuclei are the isotopes carbon-13 and hydrogen-1 (hydrogen-1 often being referred as protons). The resonant frequency of each isotope is directly proportional to the strength of the applied magnetic field, and the magnetogyric or gyromagnetic ratio of that isotope. The signal strength is proportional both to the stimulating magnetic field and the number of nuclei of that isotope in the sample. Thus in the 21 tesla magnetic field that may be found in high resolution laboratory NMR spectrometers, protons resonate at 900 MHz. However, in the Earth's magnetic field the same nuclei resonate at audio frequencies of around 2 kHz and generate very weak signals. The location of a nucleus within a complex molecule affects the 'chemical environment' (i.e. the rotating magnetic fields generated by the other nuclei) experienced by the nucleus. Thus different hydrocarbon molecules containing NMR active nuclei in different positions within the molecules produce slightly different patterns of resonant frequencies. EFNMR signals can be affected by both magnetically noisy laboratory environments and natural variations in the Earth's field, which originally compromised its usefulness. However this disadvantage has been overcome by the introduction of electronic equipment which compensates changes in ambient magnetic fields. Whereas chemical shifts are important in NMR, they are insignificant in the Earth's field. The absence of chemical shifts causes features such as spin-spin multiplets (that are separated by high fields) to be superimposed in EFNMR. Instead, EFNMR spectra are dominated by spin-spin coupling (J-coupling) effects. Software optimised for analysing these spectra can provide useful information about the structure of the molecules in the sample. == Applications == Applications of EFNMR include: * Proton precession magnetometers (PPM) or proton magnetometers, which produce magnetic resonance in a known sample in the magnetic field to be measured, measure the sample's resonant frequency, then calculate and display the field strength. * EFNMR spectrometers, which use the principle of NMR spectroscopy to analyse molecular structures in a variety of applications, from investigating the structure of ice crystals in polar ice-fields, to rocks and hydrocarbons on-site. * Earth's field MRI scanners, which use the principle of magnetic resonance imaging. The advantages of the Earth's field instruments over conventional (high field strength) instruments include the portability of the equipment giving the ability to analyse substances on-site, and their lower cost. The much lower geomagnetic field strength, that would otherwise result in poor signal-to-noise ratios, is compensated by homogeneity of the Earth's field giving the ability to use much larger samples. Their relatively low cost and simplicity make them good educational tools. Although those commercial EFNMR spectrometers and MRI instruments aimed at universities etc. are necessarily sophisticated and are too costly for most hobbyists, internet search engines find data and designs for basic proton precession magnetometers which claim to be within the capability of reasonably competent electronic hobbyists or undergraduate students to build from readily available components costing no more than a few tens of US dollars. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Earth's field NMR」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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