Q-damping circuit including a high temperature superconductor coil for damping a high temperature superconductor self-resonant coil in a nuclear quadrupole resonance detection system

• US 7,301,344 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2004
• Issued: 11/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (Corteva, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (Corteva, Inc.)
• Inventors: McCambridge, James D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vargas; Dixomara
• Application Number:
  US10/994,783
• Publication Number:
  US 20060082368A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,100 Days
• Field of Search: 324/307, 324/309, 324/318, 324/322
• US Class Current: 324/322
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 24/084 Detection of potentially hazardous samples, e.g. toxic samples, explosives, drugs, firearms, weapons
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/34007 Manufacture of RF coils, e.g. using printed circuit board technology; additional hardware for providing mechanical support to the RF coil assembly or to part thereof, e.g. a support for moving the coil assembly relative to the remainder of the MR system
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/34023 Superconducting RF coils
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/34053 Solenoid coils; Toroidal coils
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/3671 involving modulation of the quality factor of the RF coil G01R33/3642 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/441 Nuclear Quadrupole Resonance [NQR] Spectroscopy and Imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/14 operating with electron or nuclear magnetic resonance

Abstract

The use of a high temperature superconductor single loop or coil in the Q-damping circuit for a high temperature superconductor transmit, receive, or transmit and receive self-resonant coil in a nuclear quadrupole resonance system results in improved performance of the nuclear quadrupole resonance detection system.

Claims

1. A nuclear quadrupole resonance detection system comprising a high temperature superconductor self-resonant receive coil and a high temperature superconductor self-resonant transmit coil,

a first Q-damping circuit for the receive coil and a second Q-damping circuit for the transmit coil,

wherein the first and second Q-damping circuits each comprise a high temperature superconductor single loop or coil.

2. The nuclear quadrupole resonance detection system of claim 1, wherein the high temperature superconductor single loop or coil of the second Q-damping circuit is inductively coupled to the high temperature superconductor self-resonant transmit coil.

3. The nuclear quadrupole resonance detection system of claim 1, wherein the high temperature superconductor self-resonant receive coil is a planar coil, and each high temperature superconductor single loop or coil is a single loop on a substrate.

4. The nuclear quadrupole resonance detection system of claim 3, wherein the high temperature superconductor self-resonant receive coil and the high temperature superconductor single loop associated therewith are on the same substrate.

5. A nuclear quadrupole resonance detection system comprising

a high temperature superconductor self-resonant receive coil and a high temperature superconductor self-resonant transmit coil,

a first Q-damping circuit for the receive coil and a second Q-damping circuit for the transmit coil,

wherein the first and second Q-damping circuits each comprise a high temperature superconductor single loop or coil, and

wherein the high temperature superconductor single loop or coil of the first Q-damping circuit is inductively coupled to the high temperature superconductor self-resonant receive coil.

6. The nuclear quadrupole resonance detection system of claim 5, wherein the high temperature superconductor single loop or coil of the second Q-damping circuit for the receive coil is inductively coupled to the transmit coil.

7. The nuclear quadrupole resonance detection system of claim 5, wherein the high temperature superconductor self-resonant receive coil is a planar coil, and each high temperature superconductor single loop or coil is a single loop on a substrate.

8. The nuclear quadrupole resonance detection system of claim 7, wherein the high temperature superconductor self-resonant receive coil and the high temperature superconductor single loop associated therewith are on the same substrate.