Understanding Nuclear Spin and its Applications in MRI

NUCLEAR PHYSICAL PRINCIPLE

What is Nuclear Spin?

The nuclear spin is a quantum number assigned to each nuclear state and represents the total angular momentum of an atomic nucleus corresponding to the sum of the angular momentum of each of its nucleons including the orbital and intrinsic spin angular momentum.

How does Nuclear Spin interact?

Nuclear spins interact with surrounding electrical environment and electron spins interact with surrounding nuclear spin environment. These interactions lead to a small shift and/or splitting of energy levels and are called hyperfine interactions.