title: Magnetic resonance imaging by synergistic diffusion-diffraction patterns.
abstract: Inferring on the geometry of an object from its frequency spectrum is highly appealing since the object could then be imaged noninvasively or from a distance (as famously put by Kac, "can one hear the shape of a drum?"). In nuclear magnetic resonance of porous systems, the shape of the drum is represented by the pore density function that bears all the information on the collective pore microstructure. So far, conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) could only detect the pore autocorrelation function, which inherently obscures fine details on the pore structure. Here, for the first time, we report on a unique imaging mechanism arising from synergistic diffusion-diffractions that directly yields the pore density function. This mechanism offers substantially higher spatial resolution compared to conventional MRI while retaining all fine details on the collective pore morphology. Thus, using these unique synergistic diffusion-diffractions, the "shape of the drum" can be inferred.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, The Raymond and Beverly Sackler Faculty of Exact Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv, Tel Aviv 69978, Israel. Noam.Shemesh@Weizmann.ac.il
authors.forename: Noam
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shemesh
authors.forename: Carl-Fredrik
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Westin
authors.forename: Yoram
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D002196:Capillaries / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D004058:Diffusion; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D016062:Porosity