Flow measurements below 50 μm: NMR microscopy experiments in lithographic model pore spaces

Quasi two-dimensional random site percolation model objects have been prepared using a synchrotron radiation lithography technique with a spatial resolution better than 50 μm and an aspect ratio of up to 17. Flow of water through the pore space was studied with the aid of an NMR velocity mapping method and compared with a computational fluid dynamics simulation. In order to be able to measure and map widely distributed flow velocities with microscopic resolution (typically 40×40 μm), an experimental protocol that permits one to cover an effectively very wide velocity field of view (0.6–10 mm/s) had to be developed.