title: What are the conditions for exponential time-cubed echo decays?
abstract: Diffusion of precessing spins through a constant field gradient is well-known to produce two distinctive features: an exp(-bt(3)) decay of the echo amplitude in response to two pulses and a much slower decay of the Carr-Purcell echo train. These features will appear whenever the spin frequency is described by a continuous random-walk. The present work shows that this may also occur in the presence of motions with long correlation times tau(c)-continuous Gaussian frequency noise with an exponential autocorrelation has the correct properties over time durations smaller than tau(c). Thus, time-cubed echo decays will occur in situations other than physical diffusion. The decay rate of the Carr-Purcell echo train is shown to vary with the pulse spacing tau whenever the correlation time tau(c) is long; the slower Carr-Purcell decay compared to the two-pulse echo decay is not unique to diffusion. Simulations are presented that display time-cubed decays. The simulations confirm two important criteria: the echo time must be less than tau(c) and the frequency noise must consist of nearly continuous variations, as opposed to step-like changes. These criteria define the range of physical parameters for which time-cubed decays will be observable.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois 61401, USA.
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Pfitsch
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: McDowell
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Conradi
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D008962:Models, Theoretical