Shimming systems are required to provide sufficient field homogeneity for high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). In certain specialized applications, such as rotating-field NMR and mobile ex situ NMR, permanent magnet-based shimming systems can provide considerable advantages. We present a simple two-dimensional shimming method based on harmonic corrector rings which can provide arbitrary multipole order shimming corrections. Results demonstrate, for example, that quadrupolar order shimming improves the linewidth by up to an order of magnitude. An additional order of magnitude reduction is in principle achievable by utilizing this shimming method for z-gradient correction and higher order xy gradients.

High-resolution NMR spectra of samples with anisotropicbroadening are simplified to their isotropic spectra by fast rotation ofthe sample at the magic angle 54.7 circ. This dissertation concerns thedevelopment of novel Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) methodologies basedwhich would rotate the magnetic field instead of the sample, rotatingfield NMR. It provides an over of the NMR concepts, procedures, andexperiments needed to understand the methodologies that will be used forrotating field NMR. A simple two-dimensional shimming method based onharmonic corrector rings which can provide arbitrary multiple ordershimming corrections were developed for rotating field systems, but couldbe used in shimming other systems as well. Those results demonstrate, forexample, that quadrupolar order shimming improves the linewidth by up toan order of magnitude. An additional order of magnitude reduction is inprinciple achievable by utilizing this shimming method for z-gradientcorrection and higher order xy gradients. A specialized pulse sequencefor the rotating field NMR experiment is under development. The pulsesequence allows for spinning away from the magic angle and spinningslower than the anisotropic broadening. This pulse sequence is acombination of the projected magic angle spinning (p-MAS) and magic angleturning (MAT) pulse sequences. This will be useful to rotating field NMRbecause there are limits on how fast a field can be spun and spin at themagic angle is difficult. One of the goals of this project is forrotating field NMR to be used on biological systems. The p-MAS pulsesequence was successfully tested on bovine tissue samples which suggeststhat it will be a viable methodology to use in a rotating field set up. Aside experiment on steering magnetic particle by MRI gradients was alsocarried out. Some movement was seen in these experiment, but for totalcontrol over steering further experiments would need to bedone.

Gold and silicon nanostructures have been produced by condensing vacuum-evaporated materials and semiconductors onto nanometer-sized etch-pit templates preformed on the surface of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. Billions of monodispersed monolayer-deep etch-pit templates, or "molecule corrals", can be produced in a range of diameters from a few to hundreds of nanometers due to the linear etch rate of carbon atom removal as a function of time. Evaporation and subsequent annealing of gold and silicon have resulted in the formation of metal and semiconductor nanostructures on the graphite basal plane. The size and shape of the nanostructures were examined using scanning tunneling microscopy, and the total coverage of the nanostructures and other chemical properties were examined using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. By varying the ratio of the total amount of material evaporated to the diameter of the etch-pit templates, three distinct types of metal nanostructures were observed to form on the molecule corral templates: rings, disks, and mesas. This method of producing nanostructures is a process that is inherently parallel and allows direct control over the final diameters and shapes (in two and three dimensions) of the nanostructures formed.