Singlet-assisted diffusion-NMR (SAD-NMR): extending the scope of diffusion tensor imaging via singlet NMR

Abstract

In this study, long-lived nuclear singlet order methods are combined with diffusion tensor imaging with the purpose of characterizing the full diffusion tensor of molecules diffusing freely in large pores of up to a millimeter in size. Such sizes are out of reach in conventional diffusion tensor imaging because of the limitations imposed by the relaxation decay constant of the longitudinal magnetization. A singlet-assisted diffusion tensor imaging methodology able to circumvent such limitations is discussed, and the new possibilities that it offers are demonstrated through simulation and experiments on plastic phantoms containing cylindrical channels of 1 mm in diameter.

Keywords: diffusion NMR; diffusion tensor imaging; long-lived spin order; nuclear magnetic resonance; singlet spin order.