Combining absorption and dispersion signals to improve signal-to-noise for rapid-scan EPR imaging.

Direct detection of the rapid-scan EPR signal with quadrature detection and without automatic frequency control provides both the absorption and dispersion components of the signal. The use of a cross-loop resonator results in similar signal-to-noise in the two channels. The dispersion signal can be converted to an equivalent absorption signal by means of Kramers-Kronig relations. The converted signal is added to the directly measured absorption signal. Since the noise in the two channels is not correlated, this procedure increases the signal-to-noise ratio of the resultant absorption signal by up to a factor of square root 2. The utility of this method was demonstrated for 2D spectral-spatial imaging of a phantom containing three tubes of LiPc with different oxygen concentrations and therefore different linewidths.