Improvements for nuclear quadrupole resonance measurements

An apparatus for exciting and detecting NQR in a substance containing quadrupole nuclei responsive to the NQR phenomenon, comprising:

• a coil for irradiating an item that may contain a substance with RF waves to excite NQR in quadrupole nuclei within the substance and for receiving an NQR signal emitted in response thereto;
• a transmitting means for producing and transmitting an RF pulse to the probe to create said RF waves;
• a receiving means to receive and treat a received signal from said probe for subsequent processing and detection of a said NQR signal therein;
• sensing means for sensing an extraneous parameter that may influence the detection of the NQR signal from the item to be scanned;
• and
• a computer for processing the treated received signal to identify a said NQR signal therein, and control the transmitting means and the receiving means in response to said processing means and said sensing means to optimise the excitation and detection of the NQR signal.