Adding a lens Improves spinning speed characterization.

Highly stable sample rotation is important in many solid-state NMR experiments. Whether the necessary stability is achieved is not always clear. Typically only an average frequency over some time interval (often relatively long and unknown) is available from the spinning speed controller readout, which is not representative of the short-term variations of instantaneous rotation frequency. The necessity of the relatively slow measurement of spinning speed is a consequence of phase noise in the tachometer, which prevents speed measurement to be both rapid and precise at the same time. We show that adding a lens to the tachometer, without any other changes in the probe, reduces phase noise by nearly an order of magnitude and allows improved measurement of the spinning speed.