Email Print Share

All Images


News Release 08-210

Dancing Atoms Now Understood

Scientists crack secret of unusual magnetic resonance, key to enhanced MRIs

This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.

the quantum mechanical principal of super-adiabaticity.

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 principle 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.


Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (167 KB)

Use your mouse to right-click (Mac users may need to Ctrl-click) the link above and choose the option that will save the file or target to your computer.