Visualizing the 'matrix': App provides insight into the quantum world of coupled nuclear spins

Magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) images are an important diagnostic tool. The achievable contrast depends on how well the nuclear spins that form the basis of the imaging signals can be controlled. Mathematically, the properties of nuclear spins are described by special matrices. Now a team led by Professor Steffen Glaser at the Technische Universität München (TUM) developed an intuitive graphical representation of the information contained in these matrices for coupled spins in arbitrary quantum states.