Stochastic dipolar recoupling in nuclear magnetic resonance of solids.

I describe a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique, called stochastic dipolar recoupling (SDR), that permits continuous experimental control of the character of spin dynamics between coherent and incoherent limits in a system of magnetic dipole-coupled nuclei. In the fully incoherent limit of SDR, spin polarization transfers occur at distance-dependent rates without the quantum mechanical interferences among pairwise dipole-dipole couplings that often limit the feasibility or precision of structural studies of solids by NMR. In addition to facilitating structural studies, SDR represents a possible route to experimental studies of effects of decoherence on the dynamics of quantum many-body systems.