A Frequency Translation Approach For Multichannel C-13 Spectroscopy

Multi-channel receivers are capable of operating over a broad enough bandwidth to accommodate nuclei other than H-1. While this is fine for imaging, the recent surge in interest in in vivo NMR has created a need for receive arrays to improve the often-poor sensitivity of other nuclei. However, the development of these arrays has been slowed by the scarcity of multi-channel, multinuclear receivers. Frequency translation is a method to solve this by using radiofrequency mixers to convert signals received from multinuclear arrays to the proton frequency, adapting narrow-band receivers to multinuclear use. This method works with a wide variety of nuclei and easily accommodates proton decoupling, a necessity for working with C-13.