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Physics of Magnetic Resonance: Suetens Chapter 4

MRI produces high-resolution, high-contrast cross-sectional images throughout the head and body. Like ultrasound, it is non-invasive, limited mainly by power deposition. MRI is also limited by the fact that the signal is generated by the nuclei in the tissue and the only way to increase this signal is to increase the magnetic field, which is very expensive. Beyond imaging, MRI has functional aspects such as chemical species sensitivity, microscopic blood flow sensitivity that makes brain neuronal activity accessible and diffusional sensitivity to evaluate tissue microstructure. This section will cover the basics, without delving into imaging schemes. Later sections will cover imaging methods.
Microscopic Magnetization Macroscopic Magnetization Precession and Larmor Frequency Transverse and Longitudinal Magnetization RF Excitation Relaxation Bloch Equations Spin Echoes Contrast Mechanisms

Magnetic Resonance Imaging


Built upon a long history of success in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (physicists and chemists) Discovered in 1946 by Felix Bloch (Stanford), Edward Purcell (Harvard). Nobel Prize in 1952 to Bloch and Purcell Physicists were interested in spin, Chemists developed the whole field because they found out how to use NMR for chemical structure analysis First images in 1973, Paul Lauterbur First human body images, 1977, Raymond Damadian Commercial installations at 0.3T in late 1970s First high field 1.5T commercial scanner at Duke in 1982 2003 Nobel Prize to Lauterbur and Mansfield

intrinsic

(magnetic moment)

non-zero

(magnetic moment)

(its not really spinning! If so it would have surface velocities > c! The existence of magnetic properties implies some internal angular momentum that must be considered intrinsic)

proton concentration in water is 110Molar, P31 is a few millimolar

Recall: Angular Momentum


J

J = g =gvr
g
r

v
if g also has a charge q then we really have a current I=q/T=qv/2r where T is the period. This current loop acts like a magnetic dipole with dipole moment: m=IA where A is the area of the loop m=qJ/2g

In a magnetic field, the energy of a magnetic dipole is: U=-mBcos where is the angle between m and B U=2mB (parallel to antiparallel to B)

dipole field of a current loop


source: wikipedia

Stern-Gerlach Experiment
Stern and Gerlach devised methods to examine magnetic moments

source: http://www.kent.ac.uk/physical-sciences/local/undergrad/physics_notes/Ph503/STERN%20GERL_SPIN%20HYP.pdf

Stern-Gerlach Experiment: Electron Spin and Magnetic Moment


The SternGerlach experiment was performed in Frankfurt, Germany in 1922 by Otto Stern and Walther Gerlach. It showed that electrons had internal angular momentum and that it was quantized, ie, had 2 values of +1/2 and -1/2. The internal angular momentum leads to a magnetic moment.

source: wikipedia

S-G were looking to test quantum theory, which predicts quantized orbital angular momentum and magnetic moments. Unfortunately, they thought the silver atoms were in an L=1 state. Quantum theory predicts 3 spots (L=-1,0,1). Further, the silver atoms are actually in an L=0 state (one spot in their theory). This was solved when Uhlenbeck and Goudsmit (1925, 1926) proposed that the electron had an intrinsic angular momentum or spin equal to h/4. In an atom the electron will have a total angular momentum J = L + S, where L is the orbital angular momentum and S is the spin of the electron. For silver atoms in an L = 0 state the electron would have only its spin angular momentum and one would expect the beam to split into two components. From:Franklin, Allan, "Experiment in Physics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) The proton magnetic moment was measured by Stern and Frisch in 1933 using molecular hydrogen, confirming its spin status.

Electron Spin

For the electron in an atom with orbital angular momentum L the magnetic moment is:

eL 2me

L mB

where mB is the Bohr magneton: mB=9.27x10-24A*m2 (or J/T)

This can result in an energy difference, for a field of 1T, of: U=2mBB=1.85x10-23Joule
At normal temperature of T=300K, the typical thermal energy kT is kT=(1.38x10-23J/K)(300K)=4.14x10-21Joule So the magnetic moments will be aligned only a short time as they become randomized by thermal energy

Classic/Quantum Picture of the Nuclear Magnetic Moment


MRI is possible due to the fact that many nuclei have a magnetic moment, The magnetic moment is attributed to some internal angular momentum of the charges that make up the individual nucleons.

where J is the angular momentum, is an empirically determined factor for each nucleus called the magnetogyric ratio. J=I, where I is the dimensionless angular momentum operator. We expect the proton to have a magnetic moment due to its charge and spin, but even the neutron has a magnetic moment I has components of Ix, Iy, Iz It is only possible (quantum mechanics) to specify I2 and one component simultaneously. The eigenvalue of I2 is I(I+1) and those of the specifiable component are m=I, I-1, ,-I. So, =(I(I+1))

Classic/Quantum Picture of the Nuclear Magnetic Moment


When placed in a magnetic field Bo along z, the natural pair of eigenstates to specify are I2 and the eigenstates of Iz=m=I, I-1, ,-I Note that E=- Bom This gives us a mental picture of the magnetic moment being a vector that is tilted at some angle away from being aligned with Bo, depending on the value of m, ie, the energy state. The angle for a proton is either 540 or 1800-540, ie, parallel or antiparallel to B Dont take this angle too seriously..

z Bo

J
(I(I+1)

+
Iz (max)=I

Nuclear Spin
Similar to electrons, protons and neutrons have a spin angular momentum that can either be +1/2 or -1/2. Protons and neutrons in a nucleus also separately fill orbitals using a model similar to electron orbitals Shells are filled according to the Pauli Exclusion Principle until full. These shells become full at what are defined as the magic numbers 2,8,20,28,50,82, for both protons and neutrons.

Nuclear Shell Orbitals

Nuclear Spin Number


Each unpaired proton or neutron in an orbital contributes 1/2 to the spin number
The J value is the sum of the orbital and spin angular momentum of the unpaired nucleon Take C12 vs. C13. C12 has a spin number of 0 while C13 has a spin number of 1/2. a neutrons orbital momentum doesnt contribute to the magnetic moment, just its spin does since the charge=0
C12

2p1/2 2p3/2 1s

Spin Rules
If an atoms # of protons and neutrons are both even, then the spin number is 0.
If the # of protons or the # of neutrons is odd and the other is even, the spin number will be a half-number (1/2, 3/2, 5/2, ) If the # of protons and the # of neutrons are both odd, then the spin number is an integer value.

The magnetic moment is related to the angular momentum configuration, but the relationship is not simple, except if spin=0, the magnetic moment=0

isotope
1H 2H 12C 13C 14N 15N 16O 17O 19F 23Na

spin I 1/2 1 0 1/2 1

natural abundan ce [%] 99.98 0.016 98.9 1.108 99.63

Magnetogyric ratio [MHz/T] 42.57 6.53 -10.71 3.08

relative sensitivity 1.00 9.65 10-3 -1.59 10-2 1.01 10-3

absolute sensitivity 1.00 1.54 10-6 -1.76 10-4 1.01 10-3

1/2
0 5/2 3/2

0.37
98.9 0.037 100 100

-4.32
--5.77 40.04 11.25

1.04 10-3
-2.91 10-2 0.83 0.093

3.85 10-6
-1.08 10-5 0.83 0.093

31P

1/2

100

17.26

6.63 10-2

6.63 10-2

relative sensitivity~3I(I+1)B02

Net magnetization
In a voxel, the magnetic moments have random phase, . Thus the transverse components cancel, leading to a net magnetization that is aligned with B0

Bo

fL

has units of Amp*m2 while M is per unit volume and thus has units of A/m

Boltzmann Statistics
If the number of atoms at the lower energy state is N+ and the number of atoms at the higher energy level is N-, then
N-/N+ = e-E/kT

where E= B is the difference in energy between the two energy states.


At room temperature, N+ is slightly higher than N-. Thus, The net magnetic moment, M, is in the same direction as B0 and proportional to N+ - N-. At 1T we can calculate E=(1.05x10-34J-s)(267.5x106rad/s-T)(1T). So E=280.8x10-28J We previously calculated kT, so E/kT=6.7x10-6, hence (N+ - N-)/(N+ + N-)~10-6

(Curies Law)

Bulk magnetic properties of materials There are both atomic and nuclear components to the bulk magnetic properties of a material when it is placed in a magnetic field. Typically the atomic (electron) effects dominate. The orbital magnetic moment of an electron is:

e L 2me

L mB

where mB is the Bohr magneton, mB=9.27x10-24A m2. For comparison the nuclear moment is much smaller, being multiples of =2.6x10-26Am2 The induced magnetization is related to the applied field by the magnetic B0 susceptibility,

The bulk magnetic properties of most materials are determined by the electronic structure. The major categories of materials are: Diamagnetic: materials that have closed shell structure, paired electrons, zero or very small orbital angular momentum. These materials oppose the applied field, weakly, reducing the induced magnetization. < 0. An example is water, = -9.04x10-6=9.04ppm

Paramagnetic: materials that have unpaired electrons who tend to lineup and increase the induced field. > 0. Thermal effects tend to limit the amount of alignment, keeping amount of increase small. An example is blood, oxygenated blood is diamagnetic, deoxygenated blood is paramagnetic. Paramagnetic metals such as gadolinium are used in MR contrast agents. Ferromagnetic: larger domains of magnetic moments are aligned and develop a very strong induced field. regions that have differing values of will thus distort the field locally where B= B0. The amount of the effect also depends on the orientation and shape of the object.

Torque on a Magnetic Moment


B I L L F B

max

F = IBL Force

= IBLW = IBA Torque

sin

(z)

(remember precession of a gyroscope)

(simple form of Bloch Equation)

dM

Joseph Larmor (1857-1942) Irish Physicist (there can be a lot of confusion about units of , rad/sec-T for unitless situations, Hz/T for frequency calculations)

Phase and Isochromats


It is useful to imagine that each image voxel is composed of many very small subvoxels for which the B0 is perfectly uniform, so all magnetic moments have the same Larmor frequency These are termed isochromats The subvoxels have to be small enough so that the field is uniform, but large enough to have many nuclei in order to be able to average over phase (several thousand, minimum)
Bo

Bo

Mi Mi

One voxel

The phase of the transverse magnetization is: =tan-1(My/Mx)

rf coil

Michael Faraday 1791-1867 chemist, natural philosopher

precessing dipole

0=20
(for uniform Mxy and Br)

note that 0 is proportional to B0 as is M0. Thus V~ B02 and the tip angle (max at /2) and the sample volume Vs

time dependence and thus B0 disappears in this frame rotating at the local Larmor frequency

Precession and the Reference Frame


To make equations and diagrams with stationary vectors (no time dependence), we create a reference frame (composed of the normal x,y,z axis) that rotates at the Larmor frequency, fL. Thus, the rotating magnetic moments are stationary vectors in same direction as B0 vector. Since there is no precession in this frame, it is as if the B0 field has disappeared! If we imagine the picture in a frame that is rotating at a frequency fr we find that a modified Br field exists with Br =B0(1-fr /fL) An observer in the rotating frame sees a magnetization but no B0 (or reduced B0)

Lab Frame
Bo

fL
Mi

Rotating Frame

fL-fr
Mi

Br

The B1 Field and Magnetization Manipulation


The magnetic moments can absorb RF energy and move to the higher energy level. However, this can only be done if the RF wave is the same energy as the energy difference, E. Thus, the frequency of the RF wave must be very close to the Larmor frequency. An applied RF energy field at the Larmor frequency using a typical RF coil will make a very small magnetic field (on the order of microtesla) we call B1. In order to have any effect on the spins, the B1 must rotate with them to keep in phase. Thus we need a circularly polarized RF (B1) The component of B1 perpendicular to B0 manipulates the magnetization, while the components parallel to B0 have negligible effect compared to B0. In the rotating frame B1 can be thought of as a constant applied field along the x-axis. Note that if the B1 has a different frequency than fL, then there will be a residual B0, (Br) that can make B1 have an altered value and direction (B1eff)

z Mi Br B1eff x B1 y

Rotating Frame
(at the B1 frequency)

In this frame, if there is residual B0, spins will appear to precess slowly at a frequency determined by Br

Example: Consider a sample of water in equilibrium with the B0 field. What should the strength of an RF pulse be to tip the proton magnetization into the xy plane in 3msec?

Ans: Assuming a constant amplitude pulse, we use the formula from the tip angle expression: =B1 p,

B1= /2/(2 x 42.58MHz/T x 3 x10-3sec


B1=1.96 x 10-6 T=0.0196 gauss

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