What Does an RF Pulse Actually Look Like?

NMR books and papers always show pulse sequences where the pulses are represented by perfect rectangles indicating perfect rectangular manifolds of monochromatic radiation. This is not the case in the real world. Despite the very impressive timing specifications given by instrument companies which greatly simplify the designing of pulse programs, the pulses at the output of the amplifiers are subject to the imperfect response of electronic components in the console. This manifests itself as pulses with imperfect edges (i.e. measurable rise and decay times). The figure below illustrates this point. The top two panels show 5 microsecond and 1 microsecond pulses measured with a 1 GHz digital oscilloscope at the output of the amplifier of a very modern NMR spectrometer. One can see that to a good approximation, the 5 microsecond pulse is rectangular whereas the 1 microsecond pulse shows an obvious rise and decay.The bottom panel shows an expansion of the beginning and end of the 5 microsecond pulse. The pulses seen by the sample will be even worse due to the response of the capacitors in the tank circuit of the probe.