EDITOR’S HIGHLIGHTED VERSION

Received; revised; accepted. [ [ NEW ABSTRACT:]] The de facto standard cost function has been used heretofore to characterize the performance of pulses designed using optimal control theory. The freedom to choose new, creative quality factors designed for specific purposes is demonstrated. The utility of the current approach is most clearly illustrated by comparison to previous applications— specifically, broadband excitation. The resulting pulses are limited to the same maximum RF amplitude used previously and tolerate the same variation in RF ho-mogeneity deemed relevant for standard high-resolution NMR probes. Design criteria, again, are transforma-tion of Iz → Ix over resonance offsets of ±20 kHz and RF variability of ±5%, with a peak RF amplitude equal to 17.5 kHz. Compared to previous broadband excita-tion by optimized pulses (BEBOP), significantly shorter pulses are achievable, with only marginally reduced per-formance. Simulations transform Iz to greater than 0.98 Ix, with phase deviations of the final magnetization less than 2◦, over the targetted ranges of resonance offset and RF variability. Experimental performance is in ex-cellent agreement with the simulations. The new cost effectively trades a small increase in residual z magne-tization for improved phase in the transverse plane at shorter pulse lengths. Key Words: broadband excitation, BEBOP, optimal control theory