OXFORD, UK -- August 10, 2000 -- 900 MHz high resolution NMR is now a reality with the new 21.1 Tesla magnet designed and manufactured by Oxford Instruments.

The magnet, installed as part of a Varian Unity Inova NMR system, has been at field since July 24th and met its drift specification within 3 days with high resolution NMR spectra acquired within a week. The field is homogeneous and highly stable, with a maximum drift of 10 Hz/hour. As part of the reliability tests the magnet has been deliberately quenched from full field and successfully brought back to 900MHz.

The success of the new magnet depended on the development of a number of unique technologies in superconducting materials, jointing and coil forming. Long term reliability and integrity of the magnet system is assured through real-time monitoring of the coil conditions using EMS™, Oxford Instruments' Energy Management System. The 900 MHz development reinforces Oxford Instruments position as a world leader in the design and manufacture of superconducting magnets and provides an excellent platform for future developments. All the 900MHz technologies used position Oxford Instruments well to move to even higher field magnets at 1 GHz and beyond.

Ergonomic design is a key feature of the 900MHz magnet. A built-in spiral staircase allows easy operator access to the top of the magnet, and unique access to the cryogenic fill ports, allows cryogenic refills from the floor level without the need to elevate heavy tanks and cryogenic storage vessels.

The launch of the new 900MHz magnet provides an important technological advance for scientists using NMR, allowing new levels of sensitivity and resolution to be achieved. The 900MHz field also enhances the ability of NMR to characterise the structure of larger molecules than previously possible at lower magnetic fields.

Andrew Mackintosh, Oxford Instruments' Chief Executive said, "This outstanding achievement is the result of an intensive program of technology and product development over a number of years. It gives us an important new product for the expanding market in instrumentation for use in life science applications. It also demonstrates the value of the investment we have been making across the whole group in radically improved processes for guiding our new product development."

Ray Shaw, General Manger of Varian NMR Systems said, " The successful completion of the high resolution 900 MHz magnet by Oxford Instruments represents an impressive milestone achievement in NMR magnet development and will certainly be welcomed by NMR scientists who continue to tackle many challenging problems in structural biology".

For more information, please visit Oxford Instruments' web site at