Magnetic Resonance and Cryogenics

The Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Department at ISI was founded in 1960 by J. Dadok, the constructor of the first ISI spectrometer working at a frequency of 30 MHz. The industrial production of spectrometers at TESLA Brno began in 1966. This was the only production of its kind in any of the Eastern European countries and continued for 25 years. These spectrometers were an extremely successful export article and several hundred of various types were produced, based on the R&D provided by ISI.
In 1967 a laboratory for low-temperature technology oriented towards the R&D of super-conducting magnets for NMR was established by J. Jelínek. After J. Dadok's emigration the department was led by K. Švéda and later (until 1990) by Z. Starčuk. In the 1970s the department began to deal with more methodological problems, for example Fourier pulse spectrometry, under the supervision of Z. Starčuk and V. Sklenář. The most significant achievements included a number of firsts in the field of NMR experiment methodology. The institute's specialists also achieved many original results in the fields of design and generation of magnetic fields in general, data processing and experiment control, spectrometer electronics, etc.
After 1990, when the production of NMR spectrometers at Tesla Brno ceased, the department was led by M. Kasal until 2002. The ongoing work has been carried out by several teams, focusing on the development of progressive electronic modules, radiofrequency and gradient coils for NMR spectrometers and tomographs, solving the problems related to NMR experiment control, data acquisition and processing in both spectroscopy and imaging, and on further methodological development, mainly oriented towards in vivo spectroscopy. Non-negligible research capacity was devoted to problems in cryogenics and the processing of biomedical signals.