
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has revolutionized how we diagnose diseases, providing medical professionals with a non-invasive method to generate images inside human bodies. MRI machines work thanks to the quantum property of spin, which provides each atom with a predictable magnetic property. By exciting these magnets with radio-frequency light, we can make 3D maps of objects from the outside.
Modern medical MRIs have high enough resolution to image individual hairs. Physicists are developing a new MRI technique using defects in diamond as quantum processors that is thousands of times more precise — almost down to the size of an atom.
Quantum is spurring the next revolution in medical imaging
Read more and see how IQC postdoctoral fellow Michele Piscitelli is working towards MRI at the nanoscale in Seeing the invisible.