Effect of a weak static magnetic field on nitrogen-14 quadrupole resonance in the case of an axially symmetric electric field gradient tensor

The application of a weak static B0 magnetic field (less than 1 mT) may produce a well-defined splitting of the (14)N Quadrupole Resonance line when the electric field gradient tensor at the nitrogen nucleus level is of axial symmetry. It is theoretically shown and experimentally confirmed that the actual splitting (when it exists) as well as the line-shape and the signal intensity depends on three factors: (i) the amplitude of B0, (ii) the amplitude and pulse duration of the radio-frequency field, B1, used for detecting the NQR signal, and (iii) the relative orientation of B0 and B1. For instance, when B0 is parallel to B1 and regardless of the B0 value, the signal intensity is three times larger than when B0 is perpendicular to B1. This point is of some importance in practice since NQR measurements are almost always performed in the earth field. Moreover, in the course of this study, it has been recognized that important pieces of information regarding line-shape are contained in data points at the beginning of the free induction decay (fid) which, in practice, are eliminated for avoiding spurious signals due to probe ringing. It has been found that these data points can generally be retrieved by linear prediction (LP) procedures. As a further LP benefit, the signal intensity loss (by about a factor of three) is regained.