Longitudinal nuclear spin relaxation ($T_1$)

With no transverse drive, the Bloch equations giveLongitudinal nuclear spin relaxation restores the population imbalance and thus the magnetization parallel to the static magnetic field. It corresponds to population relaxation for the two-level model. Starting from $M_z(0)=0$, waiting $T_1$ recovers $1-e^{-1}$ of $M_0$, whereas waiting $5T_1$ recovers about $99.3\%$. This is why repeated measurements require a recovery-time decision.