Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 11, 2025

Optimizing Magnetic Force Microscopy Resolution and Sensitivity to Visualize Nanoscale Magnetic Domains
Published on: July 20, 2022
Gadolinium Spin Decoherence Mechanisms at High Magnetic Fields
C Blake Wilson1, Mian Qi2, Songi Han3,4,5
1Laboratory of Chemical Physics, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States.
Abstract:
Favorable relaxation processes, high-field spectral properties, and biological compatibility have made spin-7/2 Gd3+-based spin labels an increasingly popular choice for protein structure studies using high-field electron paramagnetic resonance. However, high-field relaxation and decoherence in ensembles of half-integer high-spin systems, such as Gd3+, remain poorly understood. We report spin-lattice (T1) and phase memory (TM) relaxation times at 8.6 T (240 GHz), and we present the first comprehensive model of high-field, high-spin decoherence accounting for both the electron spin concentration and temperature. The model includes four principal mechanisms driving decoherence: energy-conserving electron spin flip-flops, direct "T1" spin-lattice relaxation-driven electron spin flip processes, indirect T1-driven flips of nearby electron spins, and nuclear spin flip-flops. Mechanistic insight into decoherence can inform the design of experiments making use of Gd3+ as spin probes or relaxivity agents and can be used to measure local average interspin distances as long as 17 nm.
More Related Videos
08:55High-Temperature and High-Pressure In situ Magic Angle Spinning Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
Published on: October 9, 2020
08:42High-Sensitivity Nuclear Magnetic Resonance at Giga-Pascal Pressures: A New Tool for Probing Electronic and Chemical Properties of Condensed Matter under Extreme Conditions
Published on: October 10, 2014
Related Concept Videos
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Relaxation Processes
Atomic Nuclei: Magnetic Resonance
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Overview
Colors and Magnetism
When atoms or molecules absorb light at the proper frequency, their electrons are excited to higher-energy orbitals. For many main group atoms and molecules, the absorbed photons are in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum, which cannot be detected by the human eye. For coordination compounds, the energy difference between the d orbitals often allows photons in the visible range to be absorbed and emitted, which is seen as colors by the human...
Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Spin State Population Distribution
NMR Spectroscopy: Spin–Spin Coupling