Equipment: MRI: Acquisition of Helium Recovery Equipment: Helium recovery for magnetic resonance facilities at UC Santa Barbara

该项目提供了一个协调一致的计划，以减轻氦供应危机对加州大学圣巴巴拉分校磁共振研究和仪器的潜在破坏性影响。这一共同努力将NSF支持的材料研究实验室(MRL)MRSEC光谱设施和太赫兹设施结合在一起，使化学、物理、材料科学、化学工程和生物学方面的尖端研究成为可能，并为50多个研究小组和众多工业合作伙伴提供服务。所要求的仪器是防止灾难性仪器故障和资源损失的关键。此外，通过氦回收降低了操作超导磁体的成本和意外情况，所要求的仪器对以下方面产生了决定性的影响：1)研究小组达到其研究里程碑并保持资金的能力，2)留住具有磁共振波谱专业知识的教师的能力，招聘该领域的新教师，以及培训下一代科学家的能力。在NSF支持的“NRT：量子组装与技术综合培训(INTRIQATE)”项目的背景下，所要求的仪器也是开发一门实验室课程的关键，该项目旨在为研究生在多样化的量子劳动力中领导能力做好准备。中压氦(He)回收系统使感兴趣的磁共振设备能够接近自给自足地运行，消除了外部氦供应的意外情况，并防止了对8个超导磁体(总计价值数百万美元)的不可修复的损害。回收系统包括液化器、压缩机、中压回收集线器、净化系统和中压储罐。该系统取代了光谱装置中现有的液化器，使氦的回收率从~60%显著提高到~90%~95%。重要的是，通过将现有的液化设备转移到太赫兹设施，此次收购创造了使两个主要用户设施受益的独特机会。在由该仪器实现的高影响力研究活动中，我们在这里重点介绍了五项：1)用于电化学储能和水净化系统的离子和混合导电材料的核磁共振和电子顺磁共振研究；2)异地和原位核磁共振对多相催化剂的洞察；3)生物分子核磁共振探测器的设计；4)使用时间分辨Gd-Gd电子顺磁共振(TIGGER)谱来拍摄作用中的蛋白质；5)探测低维、图案化自旋体系中的多体相互作用。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，认为值得支持。

This project offers a concerted plan to mitigate the potentially devastating impacts of the helium supply crisis on magnetic resonance research and instrumentation at UC Santa Barbara. The concerted effort brings together the NSF-supported Materials Research Laboratory (MRL) MRSEC Spectroscopy Facility and Terahertz Facility, that enable cutting-edge research in Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, and Biology and serve over 50 research groups and numerous industrial partners. The requested instrumentation is key to preventing catastrophic instrument failure and loss of resources. Further, by reducing the cost and contingencies associated with operating superconducting magnets through helium recycling, the requested instrumentation has a decisive impact on: 1) the ability of research groups to meet their research milestones and maintain funding, 2) the ability to retain faculty with expertise in magnetic resonance spectroscopy, recruit new faculty members in this area, and train the next generation of scientists. The requested instrumentation is also key to the development of a lab course offered in the context of the NSF-supported “NRT: Integrative Training In Quantum Assembly & Technology (INTRIQATE)” program, which aims to prepare graduate students for leadership in a diverse quantum workforce. The medium pressure helium (He) recovery system enables the magnetic resonance facilities of interest to operate near self-sufficiency, removing contingencies on external He supplies and preventing irreparable damage to eight superconducting magnets (which together are worth several million dollars). The recovery system includes a He liquefier, a compressor, a medium pressure recovery hub, a purification system, and a medium pressure storage tank. This system replaces the current Liquefier in the Spectroscopy Facility, resulting in a significant increase in He recovery from ~60% to ~90-95%. Importantly, by transferring the existing liquefier to the Terahertz Facility, this acquisition creates the unique opportunity of benefitting two major user Facilities. Among high impact research activities enabled by this instrumentation, we highlight five here: 1) NMR and EPR studies of ion and mixed conducting materials for electrochemical energy storage and water purification systems; 2) Ex situ and in situ NMR insights into heterogeneous catalysts; 3) Design of biomolecular MRI probes; 4) Filming proteins in action using Time-resolved Gadolinium-Gadolinium Electron paramagnetic Resonance (TIGGER) Spectroscopy; 5) Probing many body interactions in low dimension, patterned spin architectures.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.