Spatially Resolved Analytical Chemistry - Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Materials

新的“看”的工具方法总是导致增加知识和理解自然。在十六世纪，伽利略的光学望远镜彻底改变了天文学。在21世纪，情况依然如此。20世纪80年代初发明的扫描隧道显微镜彻底改变了我们对表面的认识和理解。X射线照相术和电子显微镜的发展导致了许多新的临床和工业分析。2014年诺贝尔化学奖授予高分辨率荧光显微镜。当获得新知识时，新的工艺和产品很快就会出现。 *** 磁共振成像（MRI）可能是临床医学中最灵活和最强大的诊断成像技术。它在20世纪70年代初的发明创造了一个数十亿美元/年的产业，并允许对各种人类疾病进行无与伦比的详细诊断。然而，传统的临床MRI技术无法可视化各种各样的材料，如多孔和微孔固体，聚合物，薄膜和气体。这些系统都具有重要的技术和科学意义。 临床MRI方法通常强调图像采集速度和图像对比度以区分组织。 临床MRI方法通常不是定量的，但如果我们希望MRI成为一种分析方法，则浓度和其他简单物理参数的定量测量是至关重要的。 成像是理解的最强大的科学范式之一。我们常说“一张图片胜过千言万语”。我们甚至将可视化等同于理解“我明白你的意思”。UNB MRI中心开发MRI方法来“看到”和定量测量材料，因为有时“一个数字胜过一千张漂亮的照片”。 UNB MRI中心已经发明并继续发明MRI方法，解决了材料科学MRI中许多突出的技术问题。UNB正在开发的成像技术允许对非常大范围的物理化学系统进行可视化和量化。这项NSERC发现资助专门支持可变场MRI，非平衡样品磁化成像和新的频率编码MRI方法的研究。这些新的成像方法将应用于合作者提出的具有挑战性但实用的材料科学和材料加工问题。**

New instrumental methods of 'seeing' have always led to an increased knowledge and understanding of nature. It was true in the sixteenth century when Galileo's optical telescope revolutionized astronomy. It is still true in the twenty-first century. The Scanning Tunneling Microscope, invented in the early 1980s, has completely changed our knowledge and understanding of surfaces. The development of X-ray Radiography and the Electron Microscope led to a host of new clinical and industrial analyses. The 2014 Nobel prize for chemistry was awarded for high resolution fluorescence microscopy. New processes and products soon follow when new knowledge is acquired.  ***   Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is probably the most flexible and powerful diagnostic imaging technique available to clinical medicine. Its invention in the early 1970s has generated a multi-billion dollar/year industry and permitted unparalleled and detailed diagnosis of a variety of human ailments. Nevertheless, traditional clinical MRI techniques are unable to visualize a large variety of  materials such as porous and microporous solids, polymers, thin films, and gases. These systems are all of technological and scientific importance.  Clinical MRI methods usually emphasize speed of image acquisition and image contrast to differentiate tissues.  Clinical MRI methods are not usually quantitative, yet quantitative measurements of concentration and other simple physical parameters are paramount if we wish MRI to be an analytical methodology.***   Imaging is one of the most powerful scientific paradigms for understanding. We frequently state 'a single picture is worth a thousand words'. We even equate visualization with understanding 'I see what you mean'. The UNB MRI Centre develops MRI methods to both 'see' and to quantitatively measure materials, since sometimes 'a single number is worth a thousand pretty pictures'.***  The UNB MRI Centre has invented, and continues to invent, MRI methods which solve many of the outstanding technical problems in materials science MRI. The imaging techniques under development at UNB permit visualization and quantification of a very large range of physico-chemical systems. This NSERC Discovery grant specifically supports research into variable field MRI, imaging with non-equilibrium sample magnetization, and new frequency encode MRI methods. These new imaging methodologies will be applied to challenging, yet practical, materials science and materials processing questions posed by collaborators. **