THE WORLD’S FIRST MRI OF A
SINGLE ATOM IS HERE,
AND IT COULD REVOLUTIONIZE
IMAGING
552,755 views•Aug 21, 2019
SEEKER
4.46M subscribers
Magnetic resonance imaging
is nothing new, but scientists were able to perform an MRI on a single atom.
But how?
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Scientists recently
captured the smallest MRI ever while scanning an individual atom. The technique
successfully reached a breakthrough level of resolution in the world of
microscopy, the detailed MRI can reveal single atoms as well as different types
of atoms based on their magnetic interactions.
This breakthrough has
potential applications in all kinds of fields, like quantum computing where it
could be used to design atomic-scale methods of storing info or when it comes
to drug development, the ability to control individual atoms could potentially
be used to study how proteins fold and then lead to the development of drugs
for diseases like Alzheimers.
In a sense, the researchers
combined a version of an MRI machine with a special instrument called a
scanning tunneling microscope, which turned out to be a match made in
microscopy heaven.
An MRI scanner creates an
extremely strong magnetic field around whatever it’s trying to image,
temporarily re-aligning the protons in your body with that magnetic field. Then
the MRI machine pulses the sample (or patient) with a radiofrequency, which
pulls the protons slightly out of alignment with the magnetic field. And after
the brief radiofrequency pulse is over, the protons snap back into alignment
with the field, and the energy that’s released as the protons move back into
place with the magnetic field is what is detected and visualized by the
machine.
And a scanning tunneling
microscope is used for imaging really tiny surfaces, and it can pick up certain
properties like size and molecular structure.
So, take the classic MRI,
add a scanning tunneling microscope and you’ve got yourself the world’s smallest
MRI machine.
Scientists used the
magnetized microscope to scan a metal wafer of iron and titanium, and while a
magnetic field was applied to the wafer, a radiofrequency pulse was activated
and deactivated making the electrons emit energy that could be visualized.
So what does this kind of
breakthrough really mean, how is it a step up from previous attempts to capture
images of tiny things, and what does it look like? Find out more on this
episode of Elements.
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