Spin Echo Attenuation of Restricted Diffusion as a Discord of Spin Phase Structure

By using the particle probability density we analyze the spin echo attenuation of particles, diffusing in a bounded region. It provides a means to expand a nonuniform spin phase distribution into a series of waves that characterize the geometry and boundary conditions of confinement. Random motion disrupts the initial phase structure created by applied gradients and consequently discords its structure waves. By assuming the spin phase fluctuation and/or the randomness of spin phase distribution in the subensemble as a Gaussian stochastic process, we derive a new analytical expression for the echo attenuation related to the particle velocity correlation. For a diffusion in porous structure we get the expression featuring the same "diffusive diffraction" patterns as those being found and explained by P. T. Callaghan and A. Coy ("Principles of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Microscopy," Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford (1991); J. Chem. Phys. 101, 4599-4609 (1994)) with the use of propagator theory. With the new approach we cast a new light on the phenomena and derive analitically how the diffusive diffractions appear when the sequence of finite or even modulated gradients are applied. The method takes into account the non-Markovian character of restricted diffusion, and therefore the echo dependence on the diffusion lengths and on the strength of applied gradient differs from the results of authors assuming the Markovian diffusion either by dealing with the diffusion propagators or by the computer simulation of Fick's diffusion. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.