SFB 1527:  High Performance Compact Magnetic Resonance – HyPERiON

• Subject Area: Computer Science, Systems and Electrical Engineering ; Chemistry ; Physics
• Term: since 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 454252029

Magnetic resonance (MR) is arguably the most chemically specific while versatile measurement method to obtain detailed information about the structure and function of molecular matter, and thus MR should be a fundamental technique for any chemical, biological, or materials science charac-terisation laboratory. However, the barriers to its general use relate to the low sensitivity of the tech-nique, and to the high level of specialisation required to apply the method. For example, the weak polarisation effect of spins requires extraordinarily high magnetic fields to be useful, leading to cost-ly and bulky high field magnets of currently up to 28 T. In the domains of materials science, food science, chemistry, pharmacology, and biology, complex molecular behaviour dominates the core of all processes, whether during product formation, func-tional behaviour, or degradation. By revealing these mechanisms with sufficient detail at the molec-ular level, the gained information drives our technological response. Yet an in situ and operando analytical technology that can provide mechanistic details, with sufficient time and spatial resolu-tion, across such a variety of applications, is currently not widely available. It is our hypothesis that MR has the potential to serve this function, but that a dedicated, focused research effort will be re-quired to bring the technology into widespread use. HyPERiON aims to address the instrumental challenges, without being limited by the current diver-sity of MR applications. It will do so by challenging the conventional notions along the entire MR signal processing chain, from sample to spectrum, strongly driven by miniaturisation, hyperpolarisa-tion, and sample conditioning. The five critical aspects that advances in MR instrumentation must address are: sensitivity, resolution, throughput, agility, and portability. HyPERiON will establish an entirely new approach to the conception of high performance MR hardware, by bringing together a research team spanning the entire competency chain necessary to converge towards a break-through in capabilities, including magnet conception and realisation, cryogenics, fast electronics, miniaturisation, MEMS, microfluidics, process parameter control, gyrotron conception and realisa-tion, NMR and DNP, and pulse sequence optimisation. HyPERiON will maximally (non-incrementally) overcome the current limits of high field MR, hence promoting the exploration of new and exciting applications from chemistry, biomedicine, pharmacy, materials science, to chemical engineering. HyPERiON will thereby serve as a source of a new generation of young scientists, supported through the integrated research training program, posi-tioned to fully leverage the new instrumentation capabilities. It will additionally attract talented young group leaders advancing various MR-related fields, highlighted by two such candidates already identified at the end of 2021.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Current projects

• A01 - High field compact superconducting magnets (Project Heads Arndt, Tabea ;  Holzapfel, Bernhard ;  Korvink, Jan Gerrit )
• A02 - Optoelectronic signal processing for high-field EPR spectroscopy (Project Heads Koos, Christian ;  Korvink, Jan Gerrit )
• A03 - Solid-state ultra-wideband transceivers for enhanced magnetic resonance spectroscopy (Project Head Ulusoy, Ahmet )
• A04 - NMR-on-a-chip transceivers for ultra-sensitive multinuclear NMR (Project Head Anders, Jens )
• A05 - Cryo-cooled microstructure systems (Project Head Brandner, Jürgen )
• A06 - Smart miniaturized shimset (Project Heads Jouda, Ph.D., Mazin ;  Korvink, Jan Gerrit )
• B01 - Broadband Sub-THz High-Power Amplifier System for High-Field Pulsed DNP (Project Heads Jelonnek, John ;  Ulusoy, Ahmet )
• B02 - Dilution-free micro-litre scale bullet-dynamic nuclear polarisation (Project Head Meier, Benno )
• B03 - Chip-integrated large-B1 THz microwave sources for DNP (Project Head Anders, Jens )
• B04 - Towards pulsed photo-DNP at high magnetic fields (Project Head Mathies, Guinevere )
• B05 - Overhauser DNP enhanced benchtop NMR spectroscopy for process monitoring (Project Head Münnemann, Kerstin )
• B06 - SABRE hyperpolarization to quantify low concentration metabolites for early disease diagnosis (Project Head Lehmkuhl, Sören )
• C01 - Low energy and fast pulsing spin dynamics (Project Head Luy, Burkhard )
• C02 - Microfluidics for high throughput NMR and process monitoring (Project Heads Guthausen, Gisela ;  MacKinnon, Ph.D., Neil )
• C03 - In situ and operando NMR measurements of processes under harsh process conditions (Project Head Brandner, Jürgen )
• C04 - Next generation MAS: bringing and controlling experiments within the MAS rotor (Project Head Badilita, Vlad )
• MGK - Integrated research training group (Project Heads Badilita, Vlad ;  Wilhelm, Manfred )
• Z - Central tasks of the CRC (Project Head Korvink, Jan Gerrit )

• Applicant Institution: Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
• Participating University: Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau; Universität Konstanz; Universität Stuttgart
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Jan Gerrit Korvink