Magnetic-resonance pore imaging of nonsymmetric microscopic pore shapes

Imaging of the microstructure of porous media such as biological tissue or porous solids is of high interest in health science and technology, engineering and material science. Magnetic resonance pore imaging (MRPI) is a recent technique based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) which allows us to acquire images of the average pore shape in a given sample. Here we provide details on the experimental design, challenges, and requirements of MRPI, including its calibration procedures. Utilizing a laser-machined phantom sample, we present images of microscopic pores with a hemiequilateral triangular shape even in the presence of NMR relaxation effects at the pore walls. We therefore show that MRPI is applicable to porous samples without a priori knowledge about their pore shape and symmetry. Furthermore, we introduce "MRPI mapping," which combines MRPI with conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This enables one to resolve microscopic pore sizes and shapes spatially, thus expanding the application of MRPI to samples with heterogeneous distributions of pores.