A high-volume resonator for L-band DNP-NMR

DNP-NMR and EPR experiments that operate at or greater than L-band (i.e., ν₀(e⁻) = 1–2 GHz) are typically limited to maximum sample volumes of several hundred µL. These experiments rely on well-known resonator designs for DNP/EPR irradiation such as the loop-gap resonator and Alderman-Grant coil, where their maximum volumes limit further application to imaging experiments and high-throughput screening beyond L-band. Herein, we demonstrate a birdcage (BC) resonator design that can accommodate several mL of sample while operating around 1.5 GHz. The sample volume is maximized by using two identical BC resonators in a stacked configuration. Simulations are used to optimize the BC design and the performance is validated experimentally with liquid-state Overhauser-DNP-NMR experiments. This BC design exploits just the parasitic capacitance of conductive rings and features no fixed tuning capacitors. An enhancement of −77 is achieved on a 10 mM 4-Amino-TEMPO in H₂O sample for a 5 mL sample volume. The associated sample heating is minimal due to the low-E-fields generated and the large sample mass with +3.4 K when driving 100 W for several seconds.