Fast Field-cycling Nmr Relaxometry: Methodology And Applications

Esteban Anoardo

E. Anoardo received his degree in physics at FaMAF-UNC (Córdoba-Argentina) where he had a first contact with NMR relaxation in liquid crystals (LCs). His PhD. thesis was focused in the molecular dynamics of thermotropic LCs incorporating field-cycling NMR experiments through a home-made machine, also in Córdoba. During 2000-2001 he spent some time working with Stelar in Italy, where he gained experience in FFC technology and applications. After that experience he joined the group of Rainer Kimmich in Ulm, Germany, supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, where he developed a FFC relaxometry variant where NMR relaxation is examined under acoustic stimulation. Once back in Córdoba he created the LaRTE (Laboratorio de Relaxometría y Técnicas Especiales) where the main research lines today are FFC-MRI relaxometry, NMR-relaxometry in soft matter and lubricants & oils. Along the last years, the LaRTE held successful collaborations with different groups in Europe, mainly the School of Chemical Sciences at DCU in Dublin, Technical Physics Department of the Technical University of Ilmenau and the Institute of Mechanical Process Engineering and Mechanics and the Pro 2 NMR group in the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Main success in the last years pertains in the set-up of a field-cycling variant of NMR relaxometry with incorporated MRI capabilities. This technique has been successfully used in producing the very first dynamic images using nanomagnetic particles (FILM), the first active contrasts that can be managed using low-power acoustic fields at low magnetic fields, low-field slice selection using double resonance and, the first calibration tool package for the gradient unit of a field-cycled MRI scanner.