Nanoscale Magnetic Resonance Imaging
While reading through VentureBeat.com, I chanced upon an article written by Dean Takahashi which caught my interest. Apparently, a team of IBM researchers have developed a microscope with 100 million times the resolution of a conventional MRI. The secret to this amazing success? Magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM). Combining the ideas of magnetic resonance imaging and atomic force microscopy, MRFM is sensitive enough to detect the magnetic spin of a single electron and thus, provides a substantially greater resolving power.
From IBM’s abstract:
We have combined ultrasensitive magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) with 3D image reconstruction to achieve magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with resolution <10 nm. The image reconstruction converts measured magnetic force data into a 3D map of nuclear spin density, taking advantage of the unique characteristics of the “resonant slice” that is projected outward from a nanoscale magnetic tip. The basic principles are demonstrated by imaging the 1H spin density within individual tobacco mosaic virus particles sitting on a nanometer-thick layer of adsorbed hydrocarbons.
While we have seen other exciting developments in the MR industry as well as the imaging industry, this breakthrough is especially revolutionary because of how much it influences the scientific community. If IBM’s new microscope is as good as advertised, we will be able to produce three dimensional images of viruses, view the structure and interactions of proteins, and study the physical nature of certain chemical reactions, all while evading the disadvantages which plague electron microscopy. The benefits of understanding how things work at a molecular level can lead to better modeling, better drugs, smaller chips, and maybe even better detection mediums for cancer.
Here’s a video describing the technique: