Revisiting NMR composite pulses for broadband ²H excitation

Quadrupolar echo NMR spectroscopy of static solids often requires RF excitation that covers spectral widths exceeding 100 kHz, which is difficult to obtain due to instrumental limitations. In this work we revisit four well-known composite pulses (COM-I, II, III and IV) for broadband excitation in deuterium quadrupolar echo spectroscopy. These composite pulses are combined with several phase cycling schemes that were previously shown to decrease finite pulse width distortions in deuterium solid-echo experiments performed with two single pulses. The simulations and experiments show that COM-II and IV composite pulses combined with an 8-step phase cycling aid in achieving broadband excitation with limited pulse width distortions.