14N magnetic resonance for materials detection in the field.

Abstract Nitrogen is prevalent in many materials, both naturally occurring and man-made. In particular, it is found in many explosives and other contraband materials. One technique for the detection of such materials in the field is the use of the magnetic resonance signal from the nearly 100% abundant, spin-1, 14 N nuclei. Some of the difficulties with such measurements in the field include spurious signals from acoustic resonances, radio-frequency interference, and generally low signal-to-noise ratios. A summary of recent work by the authors to help mitigate these difficulties is presented.