Mechanisms of Spin Flip

Soon after N. Bloembergen arrived at Harvard University, E.M. Purcell and his students, H.C. Torrey and R.V. Pound, detected nuclear magnetic resonance for the first time. Together, they wrote a seminal paper in 1957 describing the basic principles of nuclear spin relaxation. Bloembergen also worked on microwave spectroscopy and the maser concept. In 1981, he received a Nobel prize with Arthur Schawlow and Kai Siegbahn for their development of laser spectroscopy.