App provides insight into the quantum world of coupled
nuclear spins
(June 3, 2015) Magnetic
resonance tomography (MRT) images are an important diagnostic tool. The
achievable contrast depends on how well the nuclear spins that form the basis
of the imaging signals can be controlled. Mathematically, the properties of
nuclear spins are described by special matrices. Now a team led by Professor
Steffen Glaser at the Technische Universität München (TUM) developed an
intuitive graphical representation of the information contained in these
matrices for coupled spins in arbitrary quantum states.
Atoms and their building blocks adhere to the laws of
quantum physics, which frequently boggle the mind. In our everyday world, a
tennis ball can be rotated about its own axis at any arbitrary speed. Nuclear
spins, on the other hand, can rotate only at a single fixed speed, either left
or right – their rotation is quantized.