MRI: Development of a 240 GHz Pulsed Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Spectrometer with Nanosecond Time Resolution

加州大学圣巴巴拉分校的化学和生物化学系将开发一种240 GHz脉冲电子顺磁共振光谱仪(EPR)，该仪器将获得重大研究仪器(MRI)计划的这一奖项。这款高频EPR光谱仪将利用加州大学圣巴巴拉分校自由电子激光(FEL)设施产生的可调太赫兹激励脉冲。该仪器将把EPR光谱学的前沿推向当前频率/场限制的两倍以上。它将为研究生物、化学和电子系统的结构和动力学开辟新的领域。EPR光谱检测包含未配对电子的材料中电子自旋的变化。这提供了原子水平上材料的结构和运动的信息。由此产生的数据为了解蛋白质、酶和固体材料中的缺陷等材料的性质提供了洞察力。这一新仪器将允许对生物相关环境中的蛋白质进行研究，而在许多情况下，这些环境是不可能的。经过开发，新的光谱仪打算成为一个多用户设施，因为它的独特能力。研究生和本科生将参与这个项目，学习设计和建造最先进的仪器设备的技能。

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California-Santa Barbara will develop a 240 GHz pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance spectrometer (EPR) with this award from the Major Research Instrumentation (MRI) program. This high frequency EPR spectrometer will capitalize on the tunable terahertz excitation pulses generated at UC Santa Barbara's Free Electron Laser (FEL) facility. The instrument will push the frontier of EPR spectroscopy to more than twice the current frequency/field limitation. It will open up new areas of investigation of the structure and dynamics in biological, chemical and electronic systems. EPR spectroscopy detects changes in electron spin in materials that contain an unpaired electron. This provides information on the structure and motions of the material at an atomic level. The resultant data provides insight on the properties of materials such as proteins, enzymes and defects in solid materials. This new instrument will allow the study of proteins in biologically relevant environments that were heretofore impossible in many cases. After development, the new spectrometer is intended to become a multi-user facility because of its unique capabilities. Graduate and undergraduate students will be involved in this project learning skills in the design and construction of state-of-the-art instrumentation.