Method and apparatus for T

1. A method of magnetic resonance measurement of a sample comprising the steps of:

(a) applying a series of RF pulses to the sample yielding a longitudinal magnetization Mz of zero value;

(b) during a selected recovery time τ, allowing Mz to recover towards an equilibrium value of Mz=Mo governed by time constant T1;

(c) at the selected recovery time τ, applying a pulse for rotating the instantaneous Mz into a transverse plane, creating observable magnetization;

(d) sampling, at discrete time intervals, the observable magnetization in a time t following the pulse for rotating the instantaneous Mz, to acquire signal amplitude measurements as the observable magnetization decays toward equilibrium with transverse magnetization Mxy=O, during which the decay time constant is T2*;

(e) allowing for recovery of the sample to equilibrium and then repeating, a finite number of times, steps (a) to (d) with another selected recovery time τ, in step (c); and

(f) processing the signal amplitude measurements for use in determining structure or components of the sample.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the discrete time intervals are separated by a dwell time.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein processing the signal amplitude measurements comprises inverting the signal amplitude measurements comprising performance of a two-dimensional inverse Laplace transform to obtain signal amplitude as a function of T 1 and T 2 *, for use in determining the structure or components of the sample based on an analysis of the signal amplitude.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein step (c), the applied pulse for rotating the instantaneous Mz into the transverse plane comprises a 90 degree RF pulse.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein step (c), the applied pulse for rotating the instantaneous Mz into the transverse plane comprises a low flip angle pulse.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the acquired signal amplitude is described according to the equation:

S (τ, t )=∫∫ dT 1 dT 2 *f ( T 1 ,T 2 *)(1−exp{−τ/ T 1 })(exp− t/T 2 *)

where f (T 1 , T 2 *) is a 2D distribution function for T 1 and T 2 *, τ is a variable recovery time following saturation and t is the time following the applied pulse for rotating the instantaneous Mz into the transverse plane.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the exponential decay term in the equation of claim 6 is modified such that it is Gaussian or sinc Gaussian.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising following step (d) and prior to step (e), replacing the sample with a presumed identical sample.

9. A method of magnetic resonance measurement of a sample comprising the steps of:

(a) applying a pulse sequence for a T 1 -T 2 * measurement to the sample;

(b) following a selected recovery time τ, acquiring a free induction decay (FID), and sampling the FID at discrete time intervals to yield signal amplitude measurements;

(c) allowing for recovery of the sample to equilibrium and then repeating, a finite number of times, steps (a) and (b) with another selected recovery time τ in step (b); and

(d) processing the signal amplitude measurements for use in determining structure or components of the sample.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein step (a) further comprises inverting the magnetization, and at the commencement of time τ, applying a series of low flip angle RF pulses, and wherein step (b) is carried out after each of the low flip angle RF pulses.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein processing the signal amplitude measurements comprises inverting the signal amplitude measurements comprising performance of a two-dimensional inverse Laplace transform to obtain signal intensity as a function of T 1 and T 2 *, determining structure or components of the sample based on an analysis of the signal intensity.

12. The method of claim 9 ,

wherein step (a) further comprises applying an inversion pulse to the sample resulting in Mz=−Mo at the commencement of time τ, and

wherein step (b) further comprises allowing Mz inverted to recover through zero to a positive value as a function of variable τ, and generating a transverse magnetization prior to acquiring the FID and the sampling steps.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising inverting the signal amplitude measurements comprising performance of a two-dimensional inverse Laplace transform to obtain signal intensity as a function of T 1 and T 2 *, determining structure or components of the sample based on an analysis of the signal intensity.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of generating a transverse magnetization comprises applying a 90 degree RF pulse for rotating the instantaneous Mz into the transverse plane.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the step of generating a transverse magnetization comprises applying a low flip angle pulse for rotating the instantaneous Mz into the transverse plane.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of generating a transverse magnetization comprises applying a 90 degree RF pulse, and the method further comprising applying a spin locking RF pulse for a time τ to spin lock the transverse magnetization.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising inverting the signal amplitude measurements comprising performance of a two-dimensional inverse Laplace transform to obtain signal intensity as a function of T 1ρ and T 2 *, determining structure or components of the sample based on an analysis of the signal intensity.