RASER-MRI: Great benefits for medical diagnostics and quantum information technology

New approach: RASER MRI promises better imaging than classic MRI. Copyright: phonlamaiphoto – stock.adobe.com)

A team of scientists from Forschungszentrum Jülich & KIT from the Helmholtz Research Field Information, RWTH Aachen University, and the United States has discovered a fundamentally new method for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). This so-called “RASER-MRI” (Radiofrequency Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation), observed for the first time at RWTH Aachen, could revolutionize MRI-based medical diagnostics as well as enable new applications for quantum sensors or in quantum information technology. From the research center, Prof. Stephan Appelt from the Central Institute for Engineering, Electronics and Analytics, Systems of Electronics, was involved in the study: three questions for the researcher about the new method. (Source: Forschungszentrum Jülich – Press Releases)

Prof. Stephan Appelt
Copyright: Forschungszentrum Jülich / Sascha Kreklau

From a scientific point of view, what is behind “RASER-MRI”?
Prof. Stephan Appelt: In previous MRI, the protons of the tissue are excited with a suitable external radio frequency and the emitted radio signal of the protons is then measured in the presence of an inhomogeneous magnetic field. From the response signal, one can then reconstruct an image. Crucially, each pixel – each voxel – is completely independent of all other voxels. That is, the contrast of the MRI image depends only on the local properties of the voxel, such as the local density or the relaxation times of the protons.

Can you simply upgrade existing devices? Or do you have to build from scratch?
One can both upgrade and downgrade. In recent years, RASER experiments have been successfully demonstrated at a wide range of magnetic field strengths; thus, unlike normal MRI, RASER MRI does not necessarily require superconducting high-field magnets, but is also possible with inexpensive low-field magnets. In addition, as mentioned earlier, external radiofrequency irradiation can be completely eliminated, thus avoiding heating effects in the patient’s cells. Both of these are significant upgrades to the required hardware.

The upgrade consists of implementing efficient hyperpolarization technologies to sufficiently negatively polarize the protons of the contrast agent. This means flipping the protons, so to speak, so that they are opposite the direction of the external magnetic field. Otherwise, spontaneous RASER emission cannot form. Fortunately, there have been great advances in hyperpolarization technology in recent years, so in the future the appropriate setup will become increasingly efficient and cost-effective.

Does this finding have implications for and points of contact with other specialties?
RASER-MRI is very closely related to a wide variety of specialties. This is due to the fact that the RASER-MRI model has a universal character, as it is related to two key ordering concepts in nature: First, the RASER-MRT model follows from the enslavement principle introduced by Hermann Haken, according to which all rapidly varying quantities can be eliminated. This leads to an extreme simplification of the description of many interacting subsystems like the voxels. On the other hand, the principle of synchronism appears in the RASER model. Synchronism is characterized by the fact that in a complex system the subsystems move in unison, i.e. coherently, due to their collective interaction. Both basic principles have caused enormous changes in physics (e.g., Josephson arrays), chemistry (chemical oscillators), biology (neural networks), and astrophysics (neutrino oscillations) in recent decades, to name just a few examples. The exact mechanism of how synchronism is involved in the formation of a RASER MRI image is currently being investigated by our research group and will be published soon.

Finally, recent findings show that synchronism can be taken as a classical analogue of quantum entanglement. The latter is fundamentally important for understanding quantum computing. Against this background, it is foreseeable that in the near future the physics of RASER-MRI will be of great importance not only in medical technology, but also for quantum sensing and quantum information technology.

Further Information:

Medical diagnostics: improved imaging

The original press release can be found at: 

RASER-MRT: Großer Nutzen für Medizindiagnostik und Quanteninformationstechnologie (only in german)

The original publication can be found at: 

Sören Lehmkuhl, Simon Fleischer, Lars Lohmann, Matthew S. Rosen, Eduard Y. Chekmenev, Alina Adams, Thomas Theis, Stephan Appelt, RASER MRI: Magnetic resonance images formed spontaneously exploiting cooperative nonlinear interaction, Sci. Adv. 8, eabp8483 (2022), DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abp8483

Localization in the Helmholtz Research Field Information:

Helmholtz Research Field Information, Program 3: Materials Systems Engineering, Topic 5: Materials Information Discovery

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Stephan Appelt
Central Institute of Engineering, Electronics and Analytics (ZEA)
Electronic Systems (ZEA-2)
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Phone: +49 2461/61-3884
E-Mail: st.appelt@fz-juelich.de

Dr. Sören Lehmkuhl
NMR Microtechnologies for Imaging and Spectroscopy at the Institute of Microstructure Technology (IMT)
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Phone: +49 721-608-22760
E-Mail: soeren.lehmkuhl@kit.edu

Contact for this press release:

Dr. Regine Panknin
Press Officer
Forschungszentrum Jülich
Phone: +49 2461 61-9054
E-Mail: r.panknin@fz-juelich.de

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