NMR molecular photography

A procedure is described for storing a 2D pattern consisting of 32x32 = 1024 bits in a spin state of a molecular system and then retrieving the stored information as a stack of NMR spectra. The system used is a nematic liquid crystal, the protons of which act as spin clusters with strong intramolecular interactions. The technique used is a programmable multi-frequency irradiation with low amplitude. When it is applied to the liquid crystal, a large number of coherent long-lived 1H response signals can be excited, resulting in a spectrum showing many sharp peaks with controllable frequencies and amplitudes. The spectral resolution is enhanced by using a second weak pulse with a 90 phase shift, so that the 1024 bits of information can be retrieved as a set of well-resolved pseudo-2D spectra reproducing the input pattern.