New research offers breakthrough in nanotechnology

New research offers breakthrough in nanotechnology. Experts from the University of Sheffield have shed new light on the application of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) on a nano scale, paving the way for improved medical imaging techniques, computing, tele, data storage and photovoltaics. The research, which was published today (28 August 2011) looks at Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and has shown that it is possible to effectively and quickly control single nano-structures made of as small as 10⁵-10⁶ atoms that have sizes of just a few nanometres (1 nm is 10^-9m), using electro-magnetic excitation. NMR is widely used in medicine for Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), a non-invasive imaging technique which allows doctors to obtain scans of various human organs. Unlike in a human body where NMR is used to look at organs of macroscopic sizes from a few millimetres up to a few centimetres with many trillions of nuclei (from 10²⁰ to 10²⁵), this research uses NMR on a much more detailed scale. All nuclei in the samples used by the team possessed magnetic moments, which could be thought of as small magnets. When such magnets are aligned inside nano-structure using optical techniques, they create a very large magnetic field about 1 Tesla, about 10,000 times bigger than the magnetic field of the Earth.