The magic angle spinning (MAS) technique of solid state NMR requires samples to be rapidly rotated within a magnetic field. The rotation rate speed record is 150 kHz, or 9 million RPM, and hence MAS turbines hold the world rotation speed record for extended objects. The containers holding the samples are made of the strongest materials known, to be able to withstand the excessive centrifugal forces. To overcome the speed limit, this paper delineates a way to do so using an optical tweezers setup

In contrast to adiabatic excitation, recently introduced SORDOR-90 pulses provide effective transverse 90° rotations throughout their bandwidth, with a quadratic offset dependence of the phase in the x,y plane. Together with phase-matched SORDOR-180 pulses, this enables a direct implementation of the Böhlen–Bodenhausen approach for frequency-swept pulses for a type of 90°/180° pulse–delay sequence. Example pulse shapes are characterised, and an application is given with a 19F-PROJECT experiment.

The HSQC experiment developed by Bodenhausen and Ruben is a cornerstone for modern NMR. When used in the field of metabolomics, the common practice of decoupling in the proton dimension limits the acquisition time and hence the resolution. Here, we present a virtual decoupling method to maintain both spectral simplicity and resolution, and demonstrate how it increases information content with the zebra mussel metabolome as an example.

We use the theory of magnetostatic reciprocity to compute manufacturable solutions of complex magnet geometries, establishing a quantitative metric for the placement and subsequent orientation of discrete pieces of permanent magnetic material. This leads to self-assembled micro-magnets, adjustable magnetic arrays, and an unbounded magnetic field intensity in a small volume, despite realistic modelling of complex material behaviours.

Magnetic resonance detectors require a high degree of precision to be useful. Their design must e.g. carefully weigh field strength and field homogeneity to find the best compromise. Here we show that inverse computational design is a viable method to find such a trade-off. Apart from the electromagnetic field solution, the simulation program also determines the boundary between insulating and conducting material and moves the material boundaries around until the compromise is best satisfied.