We propose to develop a compact, cost-effective Traveling Wave Tube (TWT) amplifier at 395 GHz with 1.5 Wcontinuous wave power and 20 GHz instantaneous bandwidth for application in Dynamic Nuclear Polarization(DNP) enhanced solid-state and solution-state NMR and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR)spectroscopy. With DNP, the inherently small signal intensities in a NMR experiment can be enhanced by up totwo orders of magnitude. This significantly increased overall sensitivity will be highly beneficial for analyticalapplications of NMR spectroscopy as well as in the structure determination of bio-macromolecules using NMRmethods.Currently, DNP is performed with either low power solid-state sources (whose output power is limited to a fewmW at frequencies > 300 GHz) and at low temperatures in the range of 20-30 K (to compensate for lowmicrowave power) or with large, gyrotron systems which can generate 50 W of power. Gyrotrons areexpensive and do not possess sufficient tuning bandwidth (<0.1%) necessary for investigating a wide range ofDNP experiments and thus require expensive sweep coils in the NMR magnets. The proposed TWT willaddress all the above concerns. The TWT is expected to cost less than one-fourth of the cost of a gyrotronsystem, provide 20 GHz of instantaneous bandwidth and will be a compact table-top system. Theseadvantages will allow a larger number of researchers to take advantage of the sensitivity boost offered by DNPin NMR experiments.In Phase I, we will design, build and test a prototype system. The successful demonstration of such a systemin Phase I will enable us to develop a commercial product in Phase II with superior performance. Thetechnology is scalable and can be used at frequencies as high as 527 GHz (800 MHz NMR). A higher peakpower version of the device will advance the state-of-the-art in high field EPR spectroscopy. As an ultimateresult of this project, we expect Bridge12 to offer a commercial TWT at 395 GHz (600 MHz NMR) for DNP-NMR and EPR spectroscopy. This will greatly accelerate structure determination of bio-macromolecules ofrelevance to human disease research funded by NIH.
Public Health Relevance Statement: Narrative The proposed research focuses on the development of a compact, cost-effective, 1.5 W Traveling Wave Tube (TWT) at 395 GHz for application in Dynamic Nuclear Polarization (DNP) enhanced solid and solution state NMR spectroscopy. DNP enhances the inherently small signal intensities observed in a NMR experiment by up to two orders of magnitude, dramatically increasing the overall sensitivity of the method and reducing the data acquisition time. This is of high interest for NMR methods for structural biology, pharmaceutical and analytical chemistry research; areas that are of significant interest to research funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.
Project Terms: Accounting ; Amplifiers ; Analytical Chemistry ; Analytic Chemistry ; Pharmaceutical Chemistry ; Medicinal Chemistry ; Pharmaceutic Chemistry ; cold temperature ; low temperature ; Communities ; Computers ; Copper ; Cu element ; Electron Beam ; Electron Spin Resonance Spectroscopy ; EPR spectroscopy ; ESR Spectroscopy ; Electron Paramagnetic Resonance ; Electron Spin Resonance ; Paramagnetic Resonance ; electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy ; Electrons ; Negative Beta Particle ; Negatrons ; Future ; Guns ; gun ; Magic ; Membrane Proteins ; Membrane Protein Gene ; Membrane-Associated Proteins ; Surface Proteins ; Methods ; microwave electromagnetic radiation ; Microwave Electromagnetic ; Microwaves ; microwave radiation ; Modernization ; United States National Institutes of Health ; NIH ; National Institutes of Health ; Nuclear Magnetic Resonance ; Plasma ; Blood Plasma ; Plasma Serum ; Reticuloendothelial System, Serum, Plasma ; PF4 Gene ; Antiheparin Factor ; Blood Platelet Factor IV ; Blood platelet factor 4 ; Chemokine (C-X-C motif) Ligand 4 ; Factor 4 ; Heparin Neutralizing Protein ; Platelet Factor 4 ; Recombinant Platelet Factor 4 ; SCYB4 ; Small Inducible Cytokine B4 ; Small Inducible Cytokine Subfamily B, Member 4 ; gamma-Thromboglobulin ; platelet factor IV ; Research ; Research Personnel ; Investigators ; Researchers ; Signal Transduction ; Cell Communication and Signaling ; Cell Signaling ; Intracellular Communication and Signaling ; Signal Transduction Systems ; Signaling ; biological signal transduction ; Technology ; Testing ; Time ; Travel ; Vendor ; Work ; Price ; pricing ; Tube ; macromolecule ; detector ; improved ; Area ; Solid ; Phase ; Biological ; Individual ; Funding ; tool ; Diagnostic ; Pulse ; Physiologic pulse ; Frequencies ; Source ; Techniques ; System ; Nuclear ; interest ; Performance ; solid state ; structural biology ; success ; Structure ; novel ; Devices ; NMR Spectrometer ; nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy ; NMR Spectroscopy ; 3-D Imaging ; 3D imaging ; Three-Dimensional Imaging ; Address ; Amyloid Fibrils ; Microfabrication ; transmission process ; Transmission ; Characteristics ; Development ; developmental ; nano ; Image ; imaging ; Output ; cost ; design ; designing ; Outcome ; scale up ; cost effective ; innovation ; innovate ; innovative ; data acquisition ; human disease ; parallel computer ; parallel computation ; parallel computing ; prototype ; solid state nuclear magnetic resonance ; SSNMR ; solid state NMR ; biological systems ; flexibility ; flexible ; operation ; experimental study ; experiment ; experimental research ;
