Investigations Of Spin-Dynamics And Steady-States Under Coherent And Relaxation Processes In Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy

Abstract

The existence of bulk magnetism in matter can be attributed to the magnetic properties of the sub-atomic particles that constitute the former. The fact that the origin of these microscopic magnetic moments cannot be related to the existence of microscopic currents became apparent when this assumption predicted completely featureless bulk magnetic properties in contradiction to the observation of various bulk magnetic properties [1]. This microscopic magnetic moment, independent of other motions, hints at the existence of a hitherto unknown degree of freedom that a particle can possess. This property has come to be known as the "spin" of the particle. The atomic nucleus is comprised of the protons and the neutrons which possess a spin each. The composite object- the atomic nucleus is therefore a tiny magnet itself. In the presence of an external bias like a magnetic field, the nucleus therefore evolves like a magnetic moment and attains a characteristic frequency in its evolution called the Larmor frequency given by, (formula)

where η is the magnetogyric ratio of the particle and B is the applied magnetic field. The existence of a natural frequency presents the possibility of a resonance behaviour in the response of the system when probed with a driving field. This is the basic principle of magnetic resonance, which in the context of the atomic nucleus, was discovered independently by Purcell [2] and Bloch [3].

From its conception, the technique and the associated understanding of the involved phenomena have come a long way. In its original form the technique involved the study of the steady-state response of the nuclear magnetic moment to a driving field. This continuous wave NMR had the basic limitation of exciting resonances in a given sample, serially. In due course of time, this technique was replaced by the Fourier transform NMR (FTNMR) [4]. This technique differed from the continuous wave NMR in its study of the transient response of the system in contrast to the steady-state response in the former. The advantage of this method is the parallel observation of all the resonances present in the system ( within the band-width of the excitation). In addition to the bias created by the external field, other internal molecular fields produce additional bias which in turn produce interesting signatures on the spectrum of the system, which are potential carriers of information about the molecular state. The fact that the spins are not isolated from the molecular environment, produces a striking effect on the ideal spectrum of the system. These effects contain in them, the signatures of the molecular local environment and are hence of immense interest to physicists, chemists and biologists.