The development of time-domain multiple-quantum nuclear magnetic resonance is reviewed through mid 1982 and some prospects for future development are indicated. Particular attention is given to the problem of obtaining resolved, interpretable, many-quantum spectra for anisotropic magnetically isolated systems of coupled spins. New results are presented on a number of topics including the optimization of multiple-quantum-line intensities, analysis of noise in two-dimensional spectroscopy, and the use of order-selective excitation for cross polarization between nuclear-spin species.

This thesis describes several studies in which nuclear magnetic resonance (nmr) spectroscopy has been used to probe the structure, orientation and dynamics of liquid crystal mesogens and molecules dissolved in liquid crystalline phases. In addition, a modern high field nmr spectrometer is described which has been used to perform such nmr studies. Chapter 1 introduces the quantum mechanical formalisms used throughout this thesis and briefly reviews the fundamentals of nuclear spin physics and pulsed nmr spectroscopy. First the density operator is described and a specific form for the canonical ensemble is derived. Then Clebsch-Gordon coefficients, Wigner rotation matrices, and irreducible tensor operators are reviewed. An expression for the equilibrium (Curie) magnetization is obtained and the linear response of a spin system to a strong pulsed r.f. irradiation is described. Finally, the spin interaction Hamiltonians relevant to this work are reviewed together with their truncated forms. Chapter 2 is a deuterium magnetic resonance study of two 'nom' liquid crystals which possess several low temperature mesomorphic phases. Specifically, deuterium quadrupolar echo spectroscopy is used to determine the orientation of the liquid crystal molecules in smectic phases, the changes in molecular orientation and motion that occur at smectic-smectic phase transitions, and the order …

Time domain multiple-quantum (MQ) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a powerful tool for spectral simplification and for providing new information on molecular dynamics. In this thesis, applications of MQ NMR are presented and show distinctly the advantages of this method over the conventional single-quantum NMR. Chapter 1 introduces the spin Hamiltonians, the density matrix formalism and some basic concepts of MQ NMR spectroscopy. In chapter 2, {sup 14}N double-quantum coherence is observed with high sensitivity in isotropic solution, using only the magnetization of bound protons. Spin echoes are used to obtain the homogeneous double-quantum spectrum and to suppress a large H{sub 2}O solvent signal. Chapter 3 resolves the main difficulty in observing high MQ transitions in solids. Due to the profusion of spin transitions in a solid, individual lines are unresolved. Excitation and detection of high quantum transitions by normal schemes are thus difficult. To ensure that overlapping lines add constructively and thereby to enhance sensitivity, time-reversal pulse sequences are used to generate all lines in phase. Up to 22-quantum {sup 1}H absorption in solid adamantane is observed. A time dependence study shows an increase in spin correlations as the excitation time increased. In chapter 4, a statistical theory …