Using metamaterial yokes in NMR measurements

Swiss rolls are one instance of metamaterials, and can be described as an effective medium with a complex, anisotropic magnetic permeability. It has been shown that bundles of Swiss rolls can guide the magnetic flux in magnetic resonance measurements and increase the coupling between the nuclear spins and the receiver coil. Here, we investigate, with a numerical model, whether Swiss rolls can boost the detected signal in a NMR experiment, where the rolls could provide a low-reluctance return path for the magnetic flux when shaped in a yoke encircling the sample. The system consisting of the nuclear spin, the rolls and the receiver coil is analyzed with the method of finite differences in time domain (FDTD). The results show that small gains in the received signal are possible, but only if the losses (resistive and dielectric) in the rolls are reduced by over one order of magnitude from their present value in state-of-the-art materials. This situation arises because of the energy dissipation in the rolls and the mode splitting caused by the coupling between the rolls and the resonant coil.