The Product Operator Formalism: A Physical and Graphical Interpretation.

ABSTRACT: The product-operator formalism is the most commonly used tool for describing and designing multidimensional NMR experiments. In spite of its relative simplicity and sound theoretical underpinnings, however, students and practitioners often find it difficult to relate the mathematical manipulations to a physical picture. In an effort to address this pedagogical challenge, the present paper begins with a quantum-mechanical treatment of pure populations of scalar-coupled spin-pairs, rather than the equilibrium population of spin-pairs in different quantum states, which is the usual starting point for treatments based on the density matrix and product operators. In the context of pure populations, the product operators are shown to represent quantum correlations between the nuclei in individua

SUBMITTER: Goldenberg DP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3088292 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature