ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the principles upon which magnetic resonance imaging is based. A microscopic molecular description is adopted so as to give the reader both (1) an appreciation of the mechanism by which contrast is achieved and manipulated in magnetic resonance images, and (2) a good foundation for the understanding of the processing of the raw data into an image. Magnetic Resonance Imaging is still in its infancy with new applications continually being developed. A few of the more notable applications are magnetic resonance (MR) angiography, microscopy, volume imaging, fluoroscopy, and materials imaging. Magnetic resonance imaging is based on the principles of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR); therefore, any description of Magnetic resonance imaging should be prefaced by a description of the principles of nuclear magnetic resonance. The first decade of magnetic resonance imaging has seen a great deal of scientific effort directed toward improving the imaging hardware and developing new pulse sequences.
