Large surface mapping by a unilateral NMR scanner.

The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) surface scanner, which provides images of sample surfaces larger than the probe dimension, has been realized using a single-sided device. Although conditioned by distortion effects originated by convolution between the sensitive volume of the probe and the space structures to be imaged, the scanner is able to provide images with good spatial resolution. The images obtained by the surface scanner can be made sensitive to relaxation parameters, magnetization or molecular self-diffusion; also, the dimension perpendicular to the sample surface can be scanned by varying the depth from which the probe detects the sample signal.