Sensitivity Improvement from Cross Polarization

Yesterday's post showed the pulse scheme for cross polarization in solids. Below is a comparison of the single scan 39.7 MHz 29Si MAS spectra for solid tetrakis(trimethylsilyl)silane. The trace on the left was acquired with a simple one pulse sequence with high power CW proton decoupling during the acquisition (Bloch decay). The trace on the right was acquired with cross polarization and high power CW 1H decoupling. In both cases the sample was spinning at 2 kHz. The signal-to-noise improvement resulting from cross polarization is obvious.