Some spectrometers also have a separate small interface for carrying out some of the more routine procedures on the spectrometer. A pulse sequence is selected and customized from the console terminal. The operator can see spectra on a video display located on the console and can make hard copies of spectra using a printer. The next sections of this chapter go into more detail concerning the magnet, lock, shim coils, gradient coils, RF coils, and RF detector of nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer. The NMR magnet is one of the most expensive components of the nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer system.
Most magnets are of the superconducting type.
This is a picture of a 7.0 Tesla superconducting magnet from an NMR spectrometer. A superconducting magnet has an electromagnet made of superconducting wire. Once current is caused to flow in the coil it will continue to flow for as long as the coil is kept at liquid helium temperatures. The length of superconducting wire in the magnet is typically several miles. This wire is wound into a multi-turn solenoid or coil.