Nuclear spin density operator

Assuming that the lattice can, on the time scale relevant for the evolution of the nuclear spin density operator, be considered to remain in thermal equilibrium, a = a, and applying the Redfield theory to the nuclear spin sub-system allows us to obtain the following expressions for nuclear spin-lattice and spin spin relaxation rates ... 

The density operator pit) has been formulated for the entire quantum-mechanical system. For magnetic resonance applications, it is usually sufficient to calculate expectation values of a restricted set of operators which act exclusively on nuclear variables. The remaining degrees of freedom are referred to as lattice . The reduced spin density operator is defined by ait) = Tri p(f), where Tri denotes a partial trace over the lattice variables. The reduced density operator can be represented as a vector in a Liouville space of dimension... 

In an alternative formulation of the Redfield theory, one expresses the density operator by expansion in a suitable operator basis set and formulates the equation of motion directly in terms of the expectation values of the operators (18,20,50). Consider a system of two nuclear spins with the spin quantum number of 1/2,1, and N, interacting with each other through the scalar J-coupling and dipolar interaction. In an isotropic liquid, the former interaction gives rise to J-split doublets, while the dipolar interaction acts as a relaxation mechanism. For the discussion of such a system, the appropriate sixteen-dimensional basis set can for example consist of the unit operator, E, the operators corresponding to the Cartesian components of the two spins, Ix, ly, Iz, Nx, Ny, Nz and the products of the components of I and the components of N (49). These sixteen operators span the Liouville space for our two-spin system. If we concentrate on the longitudinal relaxation (the relaxation connected to the distribution of populations), the Redfield theory predicts the relaxation to follow a set of three coupled differential equations ... 

H is the total Hamiltonian (in the angular frequency units) and L is the total Liouvillian, divided into three parts describing the nuclear spin system (Lj), the lattice (Ll) and the coupling between the two subsystems (L/l). The symbol x is the density operator for the whole system, expressible as the direct product of the density operators for spin (p) and lattice (a), x = p <8> ci. The Liouvillian (Lj) for the spin system is the commutator with the nuclear Zeeman Hamiltonian (we thus treat the nuclear spin system as an ensemble of non-interacting spins in a magnetic field). Ll will be defined later and Ljl... 

The theory of nuclear spin relaxation (see monographs by Slichter [4], Abragam [5] and McConnell [6] for comprehensive presentations) is usually formulated in terms of the evolution of the density operator, cr, for the spin system under consideration from some kind of a non-equilibrium state, created normally by one or more radio-frequency pulses, to thermal equilibrium, described by Using the Bloch-Wangsness-Redfield (BWR) theory, usually appropriate for the liquid state, we can write [7, 8] ... 

The detection of NMR signals is based on the perturbation of spin systems that obey the laws of quantum mechanics. The effect of a single hard pulse or a selective pulse on an individual spin or the basic understanding of relaxation can be illustrated using a classical approach based on the Bloch equations. However as soon as scalar coupling and coherence transfer processes become part of the pulse sequence this simple approach is invalid and fails. Consequently most pulse experiments and techniques cannot be described satisfactorily using a classical or even semi-classical description and it is necessary to use the density matrix approach to describe the quantum physics of nuclear spins. The density matrix is the basis of the more practicable product operator formalism. 

The evolution of the density matrix is governed by Eq. (2.10) in which the Hamiltonian for the spin system must be specified. It is noted here that the relaxation effects arising from dissipative interactions between the spin system and the lattice have not been included in the equation. The nuclear spin Hamiltonian contains only nuclear spin operators and a few phenomenological parameters that originate from averaging the full Hamiltonian for a molecular system over the lattice coordinates. These magnetic resonance parameters can, at least in principle, be deduced by quantum chemical calculations [2.3]. The terms that will be needed for discussion in this monograph will be summarized here. 

The particular utility of NMR microscopy lies in the contrasts that are available. Image contrast in NMRI depends on material-specific parameters (spin-density and nuclear spin relaxation times), operator-related parameters (pulse sequence, pulse delay and repetition times) and external parameters (temperature, viscosity, etc.). Common contrast mechanisms in solid-state NMR imaging are based on relaxation times (T, T2, T p. T ) and chemical shifts. Most studies develop contrast based either on spin density or T2 differences since these show up immediately without the need of modifying the imaging sequence. The unsurpassed soft-matter contrast of NMRI is hard to achieve with competitive methods like X-ray or computer tomography. 

---