Investigation of molecular order and dynamics in liquid crystals confined in porous media using the dipolar-correlation effect on the stimulated echo

Cross-relaxation effects in stimulated-echo-type PGSE NMR experiments by bipolar and monopolar gradient pulses

Exchange of longitudinal spin polarization by dipolar cross relaxation between nonequivalent spins results in a modulation of the stimulated echo signal on increasing the encoding/decoding delays and in a multiexponential decay on increasing the diffusion time. These artifacts are suppressed by 180 degrees pulses inserted in the middle of the gradient encoding/decoding periods. The efficiency of the gradient encoding is preserved if bipolar gradient pulses are used instead of monopolar pulses. The behavior of the different pulse sequences is demonstrated by (19)F PGSE NMR experiments in a lyotropic liquid crystal in both isotropic micellar and oriented nematic phases. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.