Linear phase slope in pulse design: Application to coherence transfer

Using optimal control methods, robust broadband excitation pulses can be designed with a defined linear phase dispersion. Applications include increased bandwidth for a given pulse length compared to equivalent pulses requiring no phase correction, selective pulses, and pulses that mitigate the effects of relaxation. This also makes it possible to create pulses that are equivalent to ideal hard pulses followed by an effective evolution period. For example, in applications, where the excitation pulse is followed by a constant delay, e.g. for the evolution of heteronuclear couplings, part of the pulse duration can be absorbed in existing delays, significantly reducing the time overhead of long, highly robust pulses. We refer to the class of such excitation pulses with a defined linear phase dispersion as ICEBERG pulses (Inherent Coherence Evolution optimized Broadband Excitation Resulting in constant phase Gradients). A systematic study of the dependence of the excitation efficiency on the phase dispersion of the excitation pulses is presented, which reveals surprising opportunities for improved pulse sequence performance.