Contact: Philip Grandinetti
Grandinetti.1@osu.edu
614-292-6818
Ohio State University

To Make Better MRI Images, Let The Atoms Spin Out Of Control

Caption: Scientists in Ohio and France have explained some strange atomic behavior, and made a discovery that could ultimately make MRI images sharper. This graphic depicts the quantum mechanical principal of super-adiabaticity, which was responsible for the behavior of atoms in some nuclear magnetic resonance experiments. If the trajectory of the atoms during an experiment were mapped on a globe, then the purpose of an adiabatic experiment is to move the atoms being studied from one point on the globe to another -- slowly, and following a very carefully designed path (gray line). With super-adiabaticity, the atoms follow a different -- sometimes, wildly different -- path (orange line), but still end up at the right destination.

Credit: Image courtesy of Philip Grandinetti, Ohio State University.

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Related news release: To make better MRI images, let the atoms spin out of control