Increasing the sensitivity of time-resolved photo-CIDNP experiments by multiple laser flashes and temporary storage in the rotating frame.

Pulse sequences have been developed that add up time-resolved photo-CIDNP signals from n successive laser flashes not in the acquisition computer of the NMR spectrometer but in the experiment itself, resulting in a greatly improved signal-to-noise ratio. For this accumulation, CIDNP is first stored in the transverse plane and then on the z axis, and finally superimposed on CIDNP produced by the next flash. These storage cycles also result in a very efficient background suppression. Because only one free induction decay is acquired for n flashes, the noise is digitized only once. The signal gain is demonstrated experimentally and analyzed theoretically. Losses are mostly due to nuclear spin relaxation, and to a small extent to instrument imperfections. With 10 laser flashes, a signal increase by a factor of about 7.5 was realized. As their main advantage compared to signal averaging in the usual way, these sequences yield the same signal-to-noise ratio with fewer laser flashes; the theoretical improvement is by a factor of n.