E D I T O R I A L

Beauty and Inexhaustibility of Magnetic Resonance

Vadim A. Atsarkin • Valery F. Tarasov •

Dmitry A. Tayurskii

Published online: 28 October 2014

� Springer-Verlag Wien 2014

This issue of Applied Magnetic Resonance is timed to the 70th anniversary of the

discovery of electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) by E.K. Zavoisky in Kazan as

early as 1944. In fact, this was the first implementation of magnetic resonance in

condensed matter. Two years later, nuclear magnetic resonance was observed and

described theoretically by E.M. Purcell, R.V. Pound, and F. Bloch, and soon other

kinds of spin resonances such as nuclear quadrupole resonance, ferromagnetic

resonance, electron nuclear double resonance, etc. were implemented. All these

phenomena based on specific features of electron and nuclear spin dynamics in

static and alternating magnetic fields constitute now a vast area of contemporary

science and technology.

The readers of Applied Magnetic Resonance are aware of great possibilities of

magnetic radiospectroscopy. There is no need to list here its innumerable

applications ranging from studies of molecular structures to petroleum prospecting,

from spintronics to archaeology, from chemical kinetics to nuclear physics. A true

triumph was the invention of magnetic resonance imaging with its broad and fruitful

applications in medicine. In the last 70 years, studies related to various magnetic

resonance methods gained a constellation of Nobel Prizes.

The apparent inexhaustibility of magnetic resonance methods and applications is

really amazing. We presume that it is related to specific beauty of this physical

phenomenon which is often (and fairly) called ‘‘spin ballet’’. Sophisticated

V. A. Atsarkin (&)
Kotel’nikov Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics, Russian Academy of Sciences,

125009 Moscow, Russia

e-mail: atsarkin@mail.cplire.ru

V. F. Tarasov

Zavoisky Physical-Technical Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, 420029 Kazan, Russia

D. A. Tayurskii

Institute of Physics, Kazan Federal University, 420008 Kazan, Russia

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Appl Magn Reson (2014) 45:1127–1128

DOI 10.1007/s00723-014-0616-5

Applied

Magnetic Resonance



manipulations over spin systems performed by modern researchers have no

precedent in other fields of science: it suffices to remind the famous experiments

with time reversal implemented for the first time by the late Professor J. Waugh.

Thus, the spin systems are frequently used as a unique polygon for testing and

implementation of the most daring ideas, both in pure physics and technology. A

typical example is quantum computing.

Naturally, the papers collected in this issue cannot cover all aspects of magnetic

resonance and its applications. Rather, this is a current state of the art of research

giving the idea about the typical technical level, most popular directions and hot

points. Some bias in favor of strongly correlated and magnetically ordered electron

spin systems evidently reflects modern trends. At the same time, bearing in mind the

specific character of an anniversary issue, a number of review articles with the

historical aspect are included as well.

Note that a considerable part of the issue is composed of papers by Kazan

scientists. This seems to be appropriate because Kazan is the birthplace of electron

paramagnetic resonance and hosts the celebrated scientific school on the basis of the

Kazan Federal University and Zavoisky Physical-Technical Institute, Russian

Academy of Sciences.

We hope that the publications presented in this issue will stimulate further

progress in magnetic resonance and its applications.

1128 V. A. Atsarkin et al.

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	Beauty and Inexhaustibility of Magnetic Resonance