EPR cavity cleaning

Steve Philson (philson@nmr.chem.umn.edu)
Thu, 16 Mar 1995 11:30:21 -0600 (CST)

To those of you with EPR experience:

I am continually plagued by background in my cavity. It is a broad,
asymmetric peak, centered about g=2.1, width ca. 150G or more, grossly
out of phase (peak is mainly negative relative to samples in center of
cavity). When I rinse cavity with aqueous EDTA solution (then H20,
then ethanol), I can reduce the signal dramatically (not entirely) but
it always comes back. I would like to figure out what it is, so I
might avoid it if possible; I would also like to learn how most people
clean their cavities.

Sorry if this seems hopelessly ignorant, but I am such a novice at EPR
that I don't even know what books might help me out.

-- 
Steve Philson           philson@nmr.chem.umn.edu
Director NMR Lab        612-626-0297
Chemistry Dept.         University of Minnesota