Strategies for Diagnosing and Alleviating Artifactual Attenuation Associated with Large Gradient Pulses in PGSE NMR Diffusion Measurements

The generation of phase-based artifacts resulting from mismatch in the effective areas (i.e., the time integrals) of sequential gradient pulses is discussed in the context of large gradient pulsed-gradient spin-echo (PGSE) NMR diffusion measurements. Such effects result in artifactual attenuation and distortion in the spectra which, in the first instance, are similar to (and commonly mistaken for) the effects of eddy currents. Small degrees of mismatch cause "unphysical" concave downward curvature in PGSE attenuation plots of freely diffusing species. However, larger mismatches can result in artifactual diffraction peaks in the plots which could easily be confused for true restricted diffusion effects. Although "rectangular" gradient pulses are preferable from a theoretical viewpoint, we found that shaped gradient (e.g., half-sine) pulses, which due to their slower rise and fall times were more tractable for the current amplifier, were more sequentially reproducible. As well as generating fewer phase-based artifacts such shaped pulses also decrease the likelihood of vibration problems.