Patent Application: US-201515112661-A

Abstract:
a tunable millimeter - wave dnp probe head is disclosed that is compatible with efficient h / x / y / e − dnp in samples that may have volume large compared to λ 0 3 , where λ 0 is the free - space wavelength at the frequency f e of the electron paramagnetic resonance when placed in an external polarizing field b 0 , where b 0 is typically in the range of 6 . 5 t to 35 t , corresponding to f e in the range of 180 - 1000 ghz , and corresponding to proton resonance frequency f h in the range of 280 mhz to 1500 mhz . the probe head comprises a tune cavity of adjustable volume , a sample cavity that is large compared to the sample wavelength , a tapered conical feed transition filled with a high dielectric material at the small end , and a selectively reflective wall that is substantially reflective of electromagnetic radiation at f e but substantially transparent to electromagnetic radiation at f h .

Description:
the perspective surface - rendered view with transparency in fig1 ( from a comsol simulation at 200 ghz ) provides an overview showing most of the essential components ( and some that are not essential ) of a generic tunable static dnp cavity , in what is close to the yz plane . as is standard practice in the presentation of field simulations , only the boundaries ( usually impedance boundaries ) of the simulation spaces are shown in most of the figures — with a few exceptions as noted . the bulk metal in the tubes and discs that define the impedance boundaries is irrelevant to the rf simulations — though in some cases it may be relevant to dc magnetic effects . again , the figures are domain boundaries , which in most cases are the internal boundaries of surrounding metal parts , whose external boundaries are mostly irrelevant . the probe head including the tunable static dnp cavity is designed to be inserted into the bore of a superconducting magnet generating polarizing field b 0 , which establishes an approximate epr frequency f e and various nmr frequencies , including a 1 h at f h . the mmw source would usually enter the probe head through an overmoded waveguide , possibly corrugated , of radius greater than 1 . 24 0 and preferably greater than 2 . 5λ 0 , according to the prior art , that tapers down , perhaps in several stages , eventually to smooth fundamental mode waveguide , usually circular and of radius less than 0 . 8λ 0 , prior to where fig1 begins . in this drawing ( and associated simulations ), the microwaves enter at port 101 , typically fundamental - mode circular waveguide ( unfilled , gas or vacuum ), though “ port ” here simply refers to the mmw input surface for simulation purposes . the port here may be a plane that cuts through a tapered waveguide transition . the microwaves then proceed through a tapered reducer 102 , connected to a first opening 104 in a wall of a tune cavity 105 , usually cylindrical and substantially unfilled . the reducer 102 is alternatively referred to as transition_ 3 , a portion of which may include a match plug core 103 of “ low - dielectric material ”, defined herein as a material with ∈ r & lt ; 4 and conductivity σ & lt ; 0 . 03 s / m at the mmw frequency . examples include teflon , polypropylene , and quartz - fiber - filled teflon . the first opening 104 is alternatively referred to as the tune cavity iris . the effective volume of tune cavity 105 is adjustable , such as by adjusting a metallic piston 106 that fits closely inside the metallic cylindrical surface of the tune cavity , thereby changing the internal length of the cavity . alternatively , a small metallic or dielectric rod extending into the cavity could be adjusted , as shown in a subsequent figure . a second opening coupling port 108 in tune cavity 105 feeds microwaves into waveguide transition_ 2 109 , normally though not necessarily circular , unfilled , and not tapered . preferably , a second adjustment mechanism such as second piston 107 at the second end of tune cavity 105 is also included so that the effective locations of the tune cavity fields to iris 104 and coupling port 108 can further be adjusted . in general , two degrees of freedom are both necessary and sufficient to achieve low s11 at port 101 for any combination of conditions presented by the rest of the dnp cavity system , though a single adjustment works surprisingly well in many cases when the rest of the parameters are properly optimized . the microwaves proceed from transition_ 2 109 into tapered waveguide transition_ 1 , which is dielectric filled , at least near its smaller end . the dielectric cores 111 , 112 and the bulk metal wall 110 are shown for transition_ 1 , partially as a reminder that the wall thickness is not infinitesimal and that there must be sufficient clearance between the outside diameter ( od ) of this transition wall and the nmr rf coil 120 to avoid high voltage breakdown . ( we note that standing waves are present everywhere , and at extremely high amplitudes at the small end of transition_ 1 , so it is not strictly proper to speak of “ microwaves proceeding ”, when in fact they are going in both directions simultaneously . “ the microwave power flows ” would be more correct .) the smaller end of transition_ 1 has a low - loss high - dielectric conical - section core 112 , usually with er greater than 9 and with conductivity less than 0 . 1 s / m , such as sapphire or 99 . 8 % full - density alumina , so that its minimum diameter can be small compared to the sample cavity radius . however , quartz (∈ r = 4 . 1 ) will also work well in larger cavities . adjacent to core 112 and possibly extending to the large end of the taper is a conical - section core 111 of a material of lower permittivity and low loss , such as quartz ( if sapphire or alumina is used for the high - dielectric core ), polypropylene , or teflon . the microwaves then proceed from the tip of the high - dielectric core of transition_ 1 through an opening , sample iris 113 , in the reflective cylindrical wall 114 which lines the inside of the ceramic coilform 115 into the highly overmoded complex cylindrical sample cavity 116 . the sample cavity includes a quartz sample tube 117 and dielectric plugs 118 with metallized end surfaces , along with the sample and sample trays . the reflective wall 117 is substantially reflective to electromagnetic radiation at the epr frequency f e but substantially transparent to the electromagnetic radiation at the highest nmr frequency of interest f n , which would usually be f h . this is most effectively achieved by using double - clad laminate with overlapping foil patches , similar to what is commonly seen in mri coils for reflective and transparent frequencies ( rf and gradients ) each lower by three to five orders of magnitude . low - loss copper - clad laminates with overlapping patches ( perhaps eight azimuthal segments and several axially , with appropriate overlap ) will work well . for example , preferred material is a liquid crystal polymer ( lcp ) laminate by rogers under the trade name ultralam 3850 ( microwave ∈ r = 2 . 9 , and dissipation factor ˜ 0 . 002 ). it is readily available in substrate thicknesses of 0 . 025 - 0 . 1 mm with 0 . 018 mm copper claddings . the above components , their function , and other options will become clearer from subsequent figures and discussions . the coupling between the sample cavity and the tuning cavity ( determined mostly by the dimensions of the sample - cavity iris , transition_ 1 , and transition_ 2 ) is such that there is sufficient field energy in the tuning cavity for the needed tuning and matching adjustability , but not so much as to lead to excessive losses in the hardware external to the sample cavity . fig2 depicts a perspective enlarged view of the (+ x , + y ) quadrant of the sample cavity with surface rendering and transparency for a particular case as simulated , from which the complexity of a typical sample cavity arrangement can begin to be appreciated . as will be seen in subsequent simulation results , the sample cavity ( defined by its reflective boundaries ) contains a number of electrically large dielectric components ( samples , spacers , sample tube , air cavities of irregular shape ), all of which independently support numerous modes near the f e frequency and all of which couple to other modes . the tunable dnp cavity invention is based on the discovery that with suitable optimization of key components , it becomes possible to efficiently and easily adjust the coupled system for an extremely wide range of sample sizes and properties so that : ( 1 ) s11 at the input port 101 is small ( in principle , zero ), ( 3 ) surface and volume losses external to the sample itself are minor , and ( 4 ) the ratio of b 1s / e within the sample is large compared to what is typically seen in large isotropic overmoded resonators . the nmr rf coil and the ceramic coilform are not shown in fig2 , as they are irrelevant to the mmw fields and simulations . the cylindrical reflective wall 114 here is shown as being precisely on the outside of the quartz sample tube 117 and of zero thickness . in practice , the reflective wall 114 is affixed to the id of the ceramic coilform 115 , and there is a very small radial air gap between the reflective wall and the quartz tube — so that the sample tube can easily be inserted and removed . that air gap will typically be − λ 0 / 40 , where λ 0 is the free - space wavelength at f e . ( the effect of that air gap was included in the simulations by reducing er of the quartz tube by ˜ 5 %.) the thickness of the laminate reflective wall will typically be ˜ λ 0 / 20 . for reference , the thickness of the sample tube wall ( usually quartz ) will typically be between λ 0 / 4 and λ 0 . in the embodiment shown here , the sapphire core 112 of transition_ 1 is seen extending a short distance beyond the end of the metal wall 110 of transition_ 1 . a metal iris ring 201 has been soldered to a copper patch on the reflective wall 114 around the reflective wall opening 202 , leaving a small iris air pocket 203 into which the core tip 204 of the high - dielectric core 112 extends . having an air gap here allows practical manufacturing tolerances on these parts . the effects of variations in the thickness of the air gap on tuning and matching are within the range of the tuning adjustments . for real - world manufacturing reasons , it may not be easy for the conductive walls to be continuous from transition_ 1 to the sample cavity ( these are separate parts ), but it is still critical that mmw radiation escaping from the iris region ( where the fields are most intense ) be minimal . since the triple - tuned solenoid 120 cannot easily be balanced at any frequency , the e fields at the nmr - frequencies in the si 3 n 4 coilform 115 near the iris can be relatively high . if the grounded conductive wall 110 of transition_ 1 makes point contact with the ceramic cylindrical coilform 115 rf noise may be generated during high - power decoupling . this can be avoided by having a low - dielectric washer 205 , preferably ptfe , between the end of the wall of transition_ 1 and the iris ring 201 . the mmw radiation escaping through the teflon washer into the si 3 n 4 coilform is minimal if the teflon washer is sufficiently thin . again , for further clarification , the minute air gap that in practice is required between the reflective wall 114 and the od of the sample tube 117 is not shown in the figures and it is sufficiently thin that it need not be included in the simulations . the concentrated microwaves proceed from the core tip 204 through the air pocket 203 through a wall opening 202 in the copper cladding of the reflective wall 114 and into the walls of the sample tube 117 , which often would be of quartz . this wall opening would normally correspond to a round or oval region on the laminate where the copper has been etched from both sides so microwaves can proceed through the substrate into the sample tube . the laminate substrate could also be cut out in this region if desired . the sample cavity boundaries are better understood by turning to fig3 , which depicts another perspective view for the + x semi - space of the sample cavity with surface rendering and the sample cavity boundaries more visible . material types are mostly distinguished by color . the sample cavity 116 is defined by its reflective external boundaries , which include the reflective wall 114 and additional metalized surfaces . a portion of the ends of the sample cavity is provided by reflective end surfaces 301 , 302 on the external end of dielectric plugs 303 , 304 . the quartz sample tube 117 has metalized ends 305 , 306 and a metalized id surface 307 , 308 near its ends for a length sufficient to at least meet the plug reflective end surfaces 301 , 302 so as to close the sample cavity . the quartz tube could also be metalized on its od near the ends to insure there is minimal leakage past the tube end od edges . typically , the metallization thickness should be greater than 1 . 5 times the skin depth at f e but less than a fifth the skin depth at f h at the typical operating temperature . the skin depth at 80 k at 300 mhz in aluminum coatings with typical defects , for example , is ˜ 2 μm . polymer films such as pet are commonly metalized with about 0 . 5 μm of aluminum , usually to reduce gas permeability . such could be used for any of the reflective surfaces in the doty cavity , though there may be better options . various alloys can have higher resistivity , better durability , sufficiently low magnetism , and much lower temperature dependence of resistivity compared to pure al , ag , cu , au , pd , pt , etc . such alloys could be made by deposition of silver ( for example by vapor or precipitation methods ) followed by electro - deposition of some combination of au , cu , ni , mn , pd , and cr , followed by diffusion alloying in vacuum at 600 - 800 k . the mean alloy should have resistivity in the range of 4 - 50 μωcm , with low temperature dependence over the full range of 4 - 700 k . for a resistivity of 6 μωcm , for example ( as assumed for the sample cavity boundaries in the comsol simulations at 200 ghz ), the skin depth at 300 mhz is 7 . 5 μm , so a total alloy thickness of 0 . 5 - 0 . 7 μm should provide sufficient reflectivity at 200 ghz with little degradation in rf performance at 300 mhz . the reflective ends 301 , 302 could be of laminate construct similar to that preferred for reflective wall 114 , as such a laminate selective reflector can provide much better transparency at f h and perhaps better reflectivity at f e . it may also be possible to use a laminate selective reflector rather than metallization for surfaces 305 - 308 , but metallization may be more practical here . an alloy metallization could also work in place of the selective laminate for the reflective wall 114 on the id of the coilform 115 . as in fig1 , the ceramic ( usually si 3 n 4 ) cylindrical coilform 115 and an nmr rf coil 120 are included in fig3 . again , the rf coil is a 5 - turn solenoid , and the solenoid leads are included here . in most cases , the rf coil would be a solenoid of 3 , 5 , or 7 turns , but other types of coils are also possible . of course , the requirement of mw feed through opening 202 requires more space between the central turns of the coil than would be desired purely from an nmr coil optimization perspective , but that is a very minor tradeoff . some details can be better seen by returning now to fig2 . the concentrated microwaves feeding through the wall opening 202 excite modes in the quartz tube , which strongly couple to and excite modes in all the other dielectric components inside the sample cavity boundaries , the mmw fields of which can only be determined by numerical simulation methods . the particular sample / spacer arrangement illustrated here proved advantageous at 200 ghz for small solid samples ( up to ˜ 10 μl ) of moderate permittivity (∈ r ˜ 7 ) for a sample tube od of 3 . 5 mm . dielectric plug 303 establishes one end of the sample space inside quartz tube 117 . a thin quartz plate 206 resting on the inside of the quartz tube 117 may be useful in providing reproducible mechanical support of the sheets above it . low - dielectric spacer_ 1 207 supports sample_ 1 208 . low - dielectric spacer_ 2 209 lies on sample_ 1 and supports sample_ 2 210 . there are irregularly shaped air spaces 211 above and beside the samples and air space 212 below the support plate 206 . a similar arrangement would often be optimum up to 1000 ghz , though with all dimensions reduced . quartz tubes at least up to 7 mm work well at least up to 200 ghz , where λ 0 is 1 . 5 mm . better options for working with liquid samples are shown later . a highly parameterized model was set up in comsol to make it possible to efficiently explore a wide range of cavities and conditions using an extensive parameter space (˜ 90 geometric , electrical , sample , and meshing control parameters ). the conducting surfaces of the domains were simulated with impedance boundary conditions realistic for typical surfaces at 200 ghz , and appropriate losses were assigned to all dielectrics . the mesh was optimized in each domain separately , and solver parameters were optimized to minimize time to convergence . when the tune cavity was symmetric ( no offset in the y direction ), two symmetry planes could be used to dramatically reduce computation time . the mesh for the (+ x , + y ) quadrant for a typical optimized case in shown in fig4 with the samples in red and the air spaces in blue . hundreds of cases were run for a wide range of sample sizes and properties (∈ r from 3 to 8 , σ s from 0 . 1 to 1 s / m ), adjusting the various parameters to maximize fom at low s11 and to find cavity parameters that would be fixed during manufacturing of the probe head ( iris size , transition tapers and lengths , tune cavity diameter , sample cavity length , etc .) that permitted high fom over a wide range of sample conditions when the tune cavity was adjusted to minimize s11 . one of the more important parameters is core tip diameter , which can be made smaller by using material of higher dielectric constant for the core 112 and by increasing its taper angle . for the parameters explored , the optimum tip radius was always greater than λ 0 / 3 , which is much larger than expected from theory and experience with classical cylindrical cavities as used in epr . s11 below − 7 db is sufficient in the simulations , though experimentally s11 below − 20 db should generally be easy to achieve — and , with sufficient effort , possible in the simulations . obviously , everything inside the sample cavity can easily be changed as needed ( they are expendables ) to accommodate different samples . in some cases , the fom could vary by two orders of magnitude for a given sample ( volume and properties ) as spacer thicknesses and permittivity were changed , even with the tune cavity adjusted for low s11 . in some cases , with a particular sample and set of spacers and dielectric plugs , fom could vary by an order of magnitude as the tune cavity was adjusted from a poorly matched to a well matched condition . clearly , different spacers and dielectric plugs are required for different samples to achieve optimum fom ( cavity tunability is not sufficient ). however , some conditions of samples and spacers were much more tolerant of mistuning . numerous experimental validations of the comsol software were carried out on various overmoded components , with some dimensions more than 20λ 0 , and in all cases excellent agreement was seen between the simulations and the experiments . analytical solutions ( mode frequencies and qs ) are well known for classical cylindrical cavities . the comsol software and simulation methodology were validated by simulating simple cylindrical cavities up to tm444 and te444 , fed by a doty cavity coupler — the mildly overmoded tapered transition_ 1 feeding an iris , as disclosed herein . mode frequencies always agreed with the analytical solutions within a minor fraction of a percent . the high - mode simulated qs ( which in some cases exceeded 12 , 000 ) were generally ˜ 30 % below the values from the classical analytical solutions , where there is at least that much uncertainty , owing to various factors not considered in the classical derivations of high - frequency small - scale surface resistance . fig5 depicts the mmw b vectors in the planes through the two sample sheets for a particular case . note that the b vectors are predominately transverse within the sample sheets , as desired for high fom when the axis of the cavity is transverse to b 0 . the arrow lengths are proportional to b magnitude . ( note that the b displayed is that actually calculated by comsol . the epr rotating component , which is used in the calculation of η f and fom , is half of that .) the maximum value of b 1s ( the transverse rotating component of the linear field ) within the sample for 1 w input to the full input port ( 0 . 25 w to the quadrant in the simulation ) was 252 μt . additional relevant parameters and results are listed in table 1 . under some conditions with larger cavities than this example , the fom of doty cavities may approach two orders of magnitude more than reported by nanni et al [ 9 , 10 ], and perhaps up to four orders of magnitude larger than achieved by prisner &# 39 ; s group [ 11 , 12 ]. fig6 is a surface plot of the magnitude of e on the x = 0 and y = 0 planes of the full simulation space for the same case as fig5 and table 1 . maximum magnitude is shown in dark red , and minimum in deep blue . note that the e fields are higher in the spacers and in the quartz tube than in the sample sheets . also note that ( a ) the match plug core 103 was not included in this case , ( b ) the low - dielectric core 111 extends to the large end of assembly 110 , transition_ 1 , and ( c ) its bulk metal wall ( which is irrelevant to the simulation when the mmw domain boundaries are properly defined ) is shown extending only to the plane of the boundary between cores 111 and 112 . the solid metal parts included in this simulation ( the iris ring 201 and the walls of 110 ) are shown unfilled , as there is no electric field inside them . ( the edges of some of the domains appear a little ragged because regions of near zero e field were not displayed .) note that core 111 is optional , and if present it may extend only part way to 109 , transition_ 2 . the mode structure in everything is complex , high - order , variable , and generally not germane to the objectives of high dnp fom , low s11 at the input port 101 , and high nmr s / n , usually at several different frequencies . the presence of standing waves near the input port indicates s11 was not zero . in this case , s11 was − 7 . 5 db , and that was sufficiently low for high performance and good accuracy in the simulations . much higher standing waves are seen elsewhere . they are either unavoidable , unimportant , or necessary , as in the tune cavity 105 , where it is necessary to have sufficient stored energy to facilitate tuning and matching of the sample cavity over a wide range of sample conditions . fig7 is a surface plot of volume loss in mw / m 3 ( or mw / mm 3 ), again on two orthogonal planes . again , deep blue represents zero and dark red is maximum , which in this case was about 300 mw / m 3 . clearly , the loss density is much higher within the sample , which here has σ s = 0 . 2 s / m , equivalent to a loss tangent of ˜ 0 . 003 at 200 ghz for ∈ r = 7 . the loss tangents of the other dielectrics were an much smaller . still , losses outside the sample ( surface , volume , leakage radiation , and s11 ) are dominant for this sample . the sample losses in this case are about 36 % of the total losses . thinner sample sheets may give higher fom in cases where σ s is larger . fig8 is a surface plot of surface loss in w / m 2 ( or μw / mm 2 ), again on two orthogonal planes . the surfaces for all the waveguides and transitions had been assigned bulk conductivity σ = 2e - 7 s / m , and the sample cavity boundaries ( whether metallization or laminate ) were assigned σ = 1 . 5e - 7 s / m . again , deep blue represents zero and dark red is maximum , which in this case ( with the exception of a few very small spots ) was about 5 kw / m 2 . fig9 shows poynting vectors in the plane of the dielectric washer 205 and in the air space just above sample_ 2 . this plot confirms that leakage through the ptfe washer is small . it also shows that it is not productive to attempt to think in terms of microwave beams or directions within a complex cavity . there is no need to say much about the rf side of the dnp cavities , disclosed in the previous figures , as it is obvious that the rf performance without dnp can approach ( within a factor of three ) what is seen in conventional nmr probes , and that can be orders of magnitude better than seen in some prior dnp probes , such as those by prisner [ 11 , 12 ], and probably those by feintuch [ 13 ], habara [ 14 ], and annino [ 19 ]. the doty cavity achieves such an rf advantage because a solenoid of optimum inductance ( 20 - 100 nh ) can be used with only about a factor of four loss in filling factor and no significant loss in q — because selective reflective walls ( similar to those that have been in wide use in mri for decades ) can readily be implemented . for larger cavities , two - coil arrangements according to the prior art would be better [ 21 , 22 , 23 ]. calculations indicated the dnp s / n on the low - frequency or mid - frequency channels of an h / x / y probe head utilizing the doty dnp tunable cavity could be three orders of magnitude larger than would be likely from one based on the cavities of prisner et al . there is also no need to say much about b 0 homogeneity , as that subject has been well addressed in many prior publications and patents [ 27 - 29 ]. the largest unshimmable b 0 field inhomogeneities in the example shown in fig2 - 9 are near the edges of the samples . various well - known measures may be taken to reduce those inhomogeneities , and some of those measures would not significantly degrade dnp fom . for example , appropriately shaped pieces of teflon or polypropylene could be used to fill the air spaces 211 , 212 . solid teflon or other low - loss dielectric could be used for the dielectric plugs 302 , 303 rather than foamed teflon . other measures are also obvious from the prior art . the solid dielectric core 112 may be one of the more difficult parts to magnetically compensate , though it could be adequately compensated by placing an aluminum conical sleeve over the wall of 110 , transition_ 1 . another option would be to plate the id and od of this waveguide wall and the iris ring with the appropriate amounts of palladium , according to the prior art for nmr coils , followed with several skin depths of silver or gold . the solenoid , described earlier as copper , would preferably have an aluminum core , according to the prior art . of course , maximizing fom , s / n , spectral resolution , and sample handling convenience are not the only considerations when samples are extremely expensive and limited . for optimum performance in very small samples , the doty dnp cavity can be made smaller . however , it may have few advantages relative to prior art when the sample cavity diameter is less than 2λ 0 / 3 or when its length is less than 2λ 0 . for direct detection of nuclides of low sensitivity , such as natural abundance 15 n , in h / x / y / e − probes , it may be beneficial to utilize even larger sample volumes . in fig1 , the cavity diameter was increased from 2 . 4λ 0 to 4 . 8λ 0 , and the cavity is displayed inverted relative to the earlier figures , as this is the more likely actual orientation ( microwaves coming in from the base of the probe ). four small rectangular sample trays 1001 , 1002 , 1003 , 1004 may be used to hold liquid samples . thin wafers 1005 , 1006 , 1007 , 1008 , 1009 can be used to cover and space them . the trays and / or wafers preferably would be of material of relative permittivity less than 3 . 5 , such as teflon or low loss liquid crystal polymer , similar to the rogers ultralam 3850 substrate . alternatively , the spacers could be teflon - clad si 3 n 4 or sapphire to more effectively conduct heat from the unavoidable spots , as were seen in fig7 . contrary to any prior art , the tunable dnp cavity permits the use of a stack of sample trays with lateral dimensions greater than λ 0 / 2 and possibly even up to 20λ 0 . preferably , the depth of the trays is less than λ 0 / 2 . a large cavity , with a total sample volume of 15 μl , was found to have fom even higher than for the smaller cavity described in table 1 in many cases . tunable shorts have been standard products by microwave companies since the 1940 &# 39 ; s . examples may be found , for example , on the websites of companies such as sage , cernex , and millitech , generally under waveguide passive products . in the typical case , a shaft is adjusted by a micrometer - type screw and thimble into the open space in a shorted section of a waveguide , more often rectangular than round , as rectangular waveguide is much more common . appropriate precision measures are taken to insure there is little clearance for microwave leakage between the rotating shaft and the flange from which it protrudes into the waveguide or cavity . micrometer mechanisms with shaft diameters down to ˜ 0 . 8 mm are readily available for use in rectangular waveguide for use up to 170 ghz , and smaller sizes could easily be made . in the 3 . 5 - mm doty cavity example presented in table 1 , the tune cavity diameter was equal to λ 0 , 1 . 5 mm . as noted in the earlier description of fig1 , the effective volume of the tune cavity could be adjusted by advancing a rod into the cavity . fig1 illustrates the addition of a fine - tune adjustment rod and a port 1102 for optical irradiation . the rod 1101 could be metal or dielectric . in either case , the rod would be inside a metallic part ( not shown , as usual ) that establishes the conductive boundaries of the cavity and the rod . in the case of a dielectric rod of permittivity er , the cutoff frequency of a circular waveguide with core of permittivity ∈ r should be greater than f e . for example , for a sapphire fine - tune rod 1101 , its diameter should be less than 0 . 6 mm at 200 ghz to prevent significant transmission out of the cavity through the rod . any off - the - shelf tunable - short mechanism with shaft diameter less than that chosen for the tune cavity could be mounted on one or both ends of the tune cavity to permit adjustment of both the volume and the effective centering of the tune cavity . the q calculated by comsol and shown in table 1 is very high by dnp standards ( and higher yet for larger cavities with low - loss samples ). sometimes the frequency difference between successive modes is small compared to the bandwidth of the q of a particular mode , which can make it easier to achieve low s11 . choosing a small diameter for the adjustment rod 1102 also makes it easier to tune and match a high - q cavity for low s11 . the simulations also show that using a fine metal rod to adjust the effective volume and centering is much less likely lead to poor fom1 at a low - s11 condition than using a sapphire rod . it should be noted that although the q is high , it is not too high to permit pulse epr methods . even for an under - coupled cavity q of 1000 at 263 ghz , the ring - down time constant ( 2q / ω ) is about 0 . 6 ns when matched , which is generally fast compared to other mechanisms at play . as noted by annino et al [ 19 ] and others [ 30 ], optical irradiation by visible or uv light can be useful , particularly in samples with triplet states that can be optically excited , where it can enable hyperpolarization at room temperature without paramagnetic centers in the sample and without intense microwave irradiation . with a few minor limitations on the doty tunable dnp cavity design , optical irradiation can easily be added with no significant degradation in either dnp fom or nmr performance . if optically transparent dielectrics are used for high - dielectric core 112 and low - dielectric core 111 , such as sapphire and quartz respectively , and if at least most of the metal boundaries of the tunable dnp cavity are plated with metals of high reflectivity and high surface stability , such as ir , pt , pd , al , ag , or au , optical irradiation into transition_ 2 109 will efficiently get to the sample if wall opening 202 is not opaque to the optical radiation . if the reflective wall 114 is made from copper - clad teflon , the thin teflon should have sufficient optical transparency . if the reflective wall 114 is made from copper - clad lcp , it may be necessary to cut a hole in the substrate to provide a wall opening 202 that is sufficiently transparent to optical as well as the mmw radiation . a particularly convenient way to add optical irradiation would be to add an optical irradiation port 1102 into transition_ 2 . for effective optical irradiation of the samples , the spacers , trays , and covers — if present , as in fig1 — should have sufficient transparency . suitable materials include sapphire , quartz , and some fluoroethylene polymers and copolymers . light loss out the input port 101 can be reduced by using a thick teflon match plug 103 , as most of the light incident on it would be reflected . fig1 depicts a typical sample tube 117 , as seen in earlier figures , of outer radius r , length l , and wall w , with metallization covering its end surfaces and extending toward the center on at least one cylindrical surface , though usually on both the id and the od , a distance greater than w and less than l / 3 . the metallization thickness is normally greater than 0 . 1 micron and less than 2 microns , and the dielectric is normally quartz , silicon nitride , mullite , or aluminum oxide , either polycrystalline or single crystal . many of the details seen in the preceding figures could be changed in radical ways and still achieve major increases in fom compared to the prior art and be within the scope of this invention as claimed . for example , transition_ 1 could feed the cavity without an iris ring or air pocket , the tune cavity need not be cylindrical , multiple tune cavities could be used , the number of spacer and sample plates could be increased or decreased , additional dielectric plugs could be added , and transition_ 3 and transition_ 2 need not be circular . one can imagine other — possibly better — ways of providing reflective end surfaces to the sample cavity . the dielectric plugs 303 , 304 could have reflective surfaces on all of their surfaces — possibly selective laminates . if the plugs are long enough to extent beyond the ends of the sample tube , metallization would then not be needed on the id of the sample tube . if the plugs included a larger diameter lip and were pressed snuggly against the sample tube ( as is common in plug caps for mas rotors , as disclosed by doty in u . s . pat . no . 7 , 170 , 292 , [ 26 ]), the lips could be metalized . it then would not be necessary to metalize the ends of the sample tube . the best option for the sample tube would often be quartz , but other dielectrics , such as high - silicon mullite could be used in cases where sample conductivity is relatively high , as mullite is mechanically much more robust and the loss tangent of some mullites is adequate below 50 ° c . alumina , sapphire , and si 3 n 4 could also be used . silicon nitride is particularly attractive , as wall thickness can be less than half that of quartz tubes of similar mechanical robustness . the sample cavity need not be oriented with its axis transverse to b 0 . it may be possible to achieve better b 0 homogeneity ( hence , spectral resolution ) if the sample cavity axis were oriented at the magic angle , 55 . 7 ° with respect to b 0 , though this would likely result in reduced dnp fom and reduced nmr s / n , as the transverse components of the mmw and rf fields would be reduced . operation at a small offset with respect to the magic angle may also be useful . even better spectral resolution would be possible if the sample could be spun at the magic angle , but that may require modifications to the sample cavity that are not obvious . the coilform , sample cavity , sample tube , and dielectric plugs could even be of non - circular cross - section , such as oval or rectangular , in which case the reflective side walls would not by cylindrical , as generally described throughout this disclosure , and it would be characterized by a minimum transverse dimension rather than a cavity diameter . a non - cylindrical cavity is not likely to be preferred , as all the components inside the cavity reflective boundaries are a part of the resonant system and thus should be able to be reproduced with high precision reasonably easily . also , it would be very difficult to utilize a non - circular waveguide for transition_ 1 because of the need for a precision - fitting core — so that the iris diameter can be small compared to the cavity radius . 1 . s c howell , m r mesleh , and s j opella , “ nmr structure determination of a membrane protein with two transmembrane helices in micelles .” biochemistry 44 , 5196 - 5206 , 2005 . 2 . c h wu , a . ramamoorthy , and s j opella , “ high - resolution heteronuclear dipolar solid - 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