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EPSRC Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) Research Facility & Service

(March 2011)

The School of Chemistry has been awarded the contract to run the new EPSRC National Facility & Service for EPR spectroscopy (also known as ESR), together with partners at the Universities of Oxford and St Andrews. EPR is a technique for studying any materials containing unpaired electrons, of wide application in chemistry, physics, materials, biology and medicine. The Facility and Service, encompassing multi-frequency c.w. and pulsed EPR methods, will be run by Professors Collison and McInnes and housed in the Photon Science Institute. Anyone interested in accessing the service should contact Professors Collison or McInnes, or visit the Facility website.

The Facility is being established with £4.1M funding from EPSRC, and £355K from the University of Manchester. The scientific instrumentation manufacturer Bruker is a key supporter and collaborator in the Facility. The full Facility will be operational from summer 2011, in the Photon Science Institute, with interim arrangements for pulsed spectroscopy with the Universities of Oxford and St Andrews.

The EPSRC EPR National Facility & Service at the University of Manchester will have state-of-the art experimental techniques for multi-frequency c.w. and pulsed EPR and data modeling. The Facility will be available to all EPSRC-funded scientists, providing a service for spectroscopic techniques and experiments that are presently either unavailable or of restricted availability to the UK community.

The Facility will be located in the Photon Science Institute (PSI, opened 2008), with superb state-of-the-art spectroscopy laboratories. The EPR Facility will occupy a single large laboratory, with adjacent sample preparation space, and will have five magnet/console platforms:

1. A continuous wave (c.w.) platform covering L-, X-, K- and Q-band frequencies.
2. A c.w. W-band spectrometer.
3. A c.w. S- and X-band spectrometer covering frequency for quick turn-around or screening of samples requiring measurements at 77 K and above.
4. A pulse platform for X-band frequencies.
5. A pulse platform for Q-/S-band frequencies.

   Cryogenic equipment is available for operation between 300 and 3K. Other experimental options include sample rotation, parallel mode c.w. operation at X-band, and in situ electrochemical and optical excitation. The state-of-the-art laser facilities in the PSI will allow development of time-resolved c.w. and pulsed spectroscopies. A wide range of spectrum simulation software will be available.

   Pulsed experiments will include ESEEM, ENDOR, DEER (PELDOR) and HYSCORE.

   Other experiments will also be available via the Facility through external collaborations, including:

6. frequency domain EPR spectroscopy (with Prof van Slageren, Stuttgart).
7. very high frequency (100 - 750 GHz) c.w. spectroscopy (with Dr Barra, LLN Grenoble).