Transverse nuclear magnetic resonance measures absorption from a radio-frequency magnetic field perpendicular to the static field. In the A phase, the resonance moved above the Larmor frequency; in the B phase it returned to that frequency despite the changed state. Anthony James Leggett connected the shift to collective spin-orbit structure. A predicted longitudinal resonance, driven parallel to the static field, supplied a further B-phase test.[ref]
The helium-3 superfluid discovery experiment establishes why a new phase was inferred; comparing response channels then tests its internal structure. An unchanged peak in one geometry cannot, by itself, establish that nothing ordered.
Nuclear magneton 2026-10-18
The nuclear magneton is the unit of magnetic moment
where is the proton mass. For a nuclear spin operator , the nuclear magnetic moment is . Consequently its gyromagnetic ratio is , and its Larmor frequency in a uniform magnetic field of magnitude is . The nuclear magneton is smaller than the Bohr magneton by the electron-to-proton mass ratio.
Use the isolated nuclear spin Zeeman effect implied by the supplied nuclear magnetic moment, with hyperfine structure neglected. The proton gyromagnetic ratio is
The two spin levels are separated by . Resonant nuclear magnetic resonance therefore requires the Larmor frequency
The duration is a Rabi pi pulse: in a frame rotating with the resonant transverse magnetic field, the spin must rotate through . If denotes the magnitude of a circularly rotating field with the correct sense of rotation, the Rabi angular frequency is . The shortest pulse is then
There is an amplitude convention to specify. If the applied transverse magnetic field is instead the linearly oscillating , its resonant circular component has magnitude . The rotating-wave approximation gives and hence
The wording does not specify this polarization convention, so the two pulse durations should be distinguished. Odd multiples of either shortest Rabi pi pulse also invert the spin within the corresponding ideal model.