Natural abundant 17O NMR in a 1.5-T Halbach magnet

We present mobile, low-field O-17 NMR as a means for monitoring oxygen in liquids. Whereas oxygen is one of the most important elements, oxygen NMR is limited by a poor sensitivity related to low natural abundance and gyro-magnetic ratio of the NMR active O-17 isotope. Here, we demonstrate O-17 NMR detection at a Larmor frequency of 8.74 MHz in a 1.5-T Halbach neodymium magnet with a home-built digital NMR instrument suitable for large-scale production and in-line monitoring applications. The proposed O-17 NMR sensor may be applied for direct, noninvasive measurements of water content in, for example, oil, manure, or food in automated quality or process control. Copyright (C) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.