World’s highest-rated magnetic field incorporated into NMR system

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) research could be revolutionised by the introduction of a new system equipped with the world's highest-rated magnetic field.

A team from Japan's National Institute for Materials Science, Riken, Kobe Steel and Jeol Resonance have created an NMR system with a 1,020 MHz field, offering considerably enhanced performance in terms of sensitivity and resolution.

NMR systems are used for various applications, including 3D conformational analysis of biopolymers and the detailing of protein structures in the development of new drugs.

It had been assumed that high-temperature superconducting technology would be needed to produce magnetic fields above 1,000 MHz, which has been an issue since such technology is fragile and difficult to process.

This new NMR system has been able to convert a high-temperature superconductor developed into the form of wire material after around two decades of work and research.

It is expected that the super-high magnetic field NMR will greatly contribute to various fields of research, while the superconducting technology it is based upon also has applications in magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear fusion, linear motor trains and superconducting power cables.