Design of a permanent magnet with a mechanical sweep suitable for variable-temperature continuous-wave and pulsed EPR spectroscopy

A magnetic system is introduced which consists of three nested rings of permanent magnets of a Halbach dipolar layout and is capable for EPR spectroscopy. Two of the rings can be rotated independently to adjust the magnetic flux in the center and even allow for mechanical field sweeps. The presented prototype achieves a magnetic flux range of 0.0282-0.3013 T with a minimal sweep of 0.15 mT and homogeneity of about 10(-3). First applications with CW and pulsed Mims ENDOR as well as ESEEM experiments on a sample of a glycine single crystal doped with 1% copper nitrate demonstrate that flux range, sweep accuracy and homogeneity of this prototype is sufficient for EPR experiments on most solid samples. Together with a recently improved design magnets can be build which could serve as compact and easily transportable replacement of standard electromagnets with negligible consumption of power or coolants. (C) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.