An intrinsic property of certain nuclei that gives them an associated characteristic angular momentum and magnetic moment also known as inherent spin (those with odd numbers of protons and/or neutrons in their nucleus). Nuclei that do not exhibit this characteristic will not produce a NMR signal.

When a magnetic moment (e.g. hydrogen nuclei) is placed within an external magnetic field (e.g. B0), it begins to oscillate about the direction of the field; this motion is called precession. The frequency of the precession (Larmor frequency) of the nuclide depends on this particular field strength. A higher field strength results in a higher frequency of the precession.

See also Precession.

The process of returning out of phase magnetic moments back into phase coherence. Caused either by rapidly reversing a magnetic gradient (Field Echo) or by applying a 180° RF pulse (Spin Echo). In the spin echo pulse sequence this action effectively cancels out the spurious T2* information from the signal.

See also Spin Echo Sequence and Gradient Echo Sequence.

Magnetic Moments L.L.C. (Berkeley, MI), developer of accessories for MRI and MR angiography procedures, received FDA 510(k) clearance to market its SKIP TM Stepping Kinematic Imaging Platform. This MRI accessory is used for manual repositioning of patients in the magnet isocenter for multistation dynamic contrast enhanced MRA or whole-body MRI surveys.

Superparamagnetism occurs when the material is composed of very small crystallites (1-10 nm). In this case, even though the temperature is below the Curie or Néel temperature and the thermal energy is not sufficient to overcome the coupling forces between neighboring atoms, the thermal energy is sufficient to change the direction of magnetization of the entire crystallite. The resulting fluctuations in the direction of magnetization cause the magnetic field to average to zero. The material behaves in a manner similar to paramagnetism, except that instead of each individual atom being independently influenced by an external magnetic field, the magnetic moment of the entire crystallite tends to align with the magnetic field.
In MRI superparamagnetic iron oxide is used as a contrast agent.

See also magnetism, ferromagnetism, paramagnetism, and diamagnetism.