N poleS poleRF coil (B₁)SampleB₀ field linesDrag to orbit, wheel to zoom.
Ringed atoms belong to a group on the selected nucleus; hover one to see its shift, or hover a peak in the spectrum to light up its atoms.
The free induction decay: the sum of every line's oscillation, decaying with T₂*. Its Fourier transform is the spectrum.
Wheel to zoom at the cursor, drag to pan, double-click to fit. Click a peak for its lines. High ppm is on the left, as on every spectrometer.
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Inversion recovery maps T₁, a CPMG train maps T₂; with any other sequence the panel shows the sample's relaxation curves and the T₂* that the shim quality produces.
How the spectrometer works
1. The magnet
Nuclei with spin precess about the static field B₀ at the Larmor frequency, |γ|B₀/2π. Protons at 1.41 T precess at 60 MHz; at 11.7 T at 500 MHz. A higher field spreads the chemical shifts further apart in hertz and raises the signal, which is why research magnets are superconducting. The shim quality slider sets how uniform the field is across the sample: a poor shim broadens every line through T₂*.
2. The probe
The RF coil around the sample tube produces the B₁ field perpendicular to B₀. A pulse of B₁ at the Larmor frequency rotates the magnetisation; the pulse power and coil size set B₁ and so the length of a 90° pulse. After the pulse the same coil picks up the precessing magnetisation: that voltage is the free induction decay.
3. Sample and solvent
Each chemically distinct group of nuclei resonates at its own chemical shift in ppm from the reference (TMS for ¹H and ¹³C). Neighbouring spins split lines into multiplets through scalar couplings J, following the n + 1 rule when the coupling is weak; the second-order toggle shows what happens when it is not. Deuterated solvents keep the solvent out of the ¹H spectrum apart from a small residual line, and provide the lock signal.
4. Running an experiment
Pick a sample, nucleus and solvent, set the field, choose a pulse sequence and press Run. The FID view shows the recorded signal, the Spectrum view its Fourier transform with peak labels and integrals, and the Results panel lists every group with its shift, pattern and integral. Zoom the spectrum with the wheel and click a peak for its individual lines.
5. Pulse sequences
Single pulse records the plain spectrum. Inversion recovery measures T₁ from the recovery after a 180° pulse; the Relaxation view draws the curve. Spin echo and CPMG refocus the shim and show the true T₂. DEPT edits a ¹³C spectrum by the number of attached protons. COSY, HSQC and NOESY are two-dimensional experiments whose maps appear in the 2D view.
6. The Bloch sphere
The bulk magnetisation of one line is a vector on the Bloch sphere. Apply pulses about x or y, switch on free evolution to watch it precess at an offset and relax back to +z, or play the selected pulse sequence step by step. The readouts give the vector components and its angles.