Patent ID: 7265549

Claim:
A method for detecting the presence of nuclear guadrapole resonance signals in a sample by scanning the sample with a band of frequencies ΔF using a nuclear quadrupole resonance detection system comprising an array of n high temperature superconductor sensors, wherein n≧2 and the bandwidth of each sensor is Δf, the method comprising the steps of: a) determining r different frequencies that span the band of frequencies ΔF when using sensors with bandwidths Δf, wherein r is the order of ΔF/Δf; b) tuning the resonance frequency of all the n sensors to the same frequency, wherein the frequency is selected from the group of the r different frequencies, and maintaining the resonance frequencies for a selected period of time; c) retuning simultaneously the resonance frequency of all the n sensors to the same frequency, wherein the retuned frequency is another of the r different frequencies, and maintaining these retuned resonance frequencies for a selected period of time; and d) repeating step (c) r-2 times, wherein after each retuning the retuned resonance frequencies of the n sensors are different from the resonance frequencies to which the sensors are tuned or retuned in any of the previous steps whereby every one of the r frequencies is used by every one of the sensors to scan the sample for the presence of nuclear quadrapole resonance signals.