Relaxation Time Measurements Research Articles

Low-frequency conductivity of low wear high-entropy alloys

High-entropy alloys (HEAs) provide new research avenues for alloy combinations in the periodic table, opening numerous possibilities in novel-alloy applications. However, their electrical characteristics have been relatively underexplored. The challenge in establishing an HEA electrical conductivity model lies in the changes in electronic characteristics caused by lattice distortion and complexity of nanostructures. Here we show a low-frequency electrical conductivity model for the Nb-Mo-Ta-W HEA system. The cocktail effect is found to explain trends in electrical-conductivity changes in HEAs, while the magnitude of the reduction is understood by the calculated plasma frequency, free electron density, and measured relaxation time by terahertz spectroscopy. As a result, the refractory HEA Nb15Mo35Ta15W35 thin film exhibits both high hardness and excellent conductivity. This combination of Nb15Mo35Ta15W35 makes it suitable for applications in atomic force microscopy probe coating, significantly improving their wear resistance and atomic-scale image resolution.

Equivalence of flexible stripline and coaxial cables for superconducting qubit control and readout pulses

We report a comparative study on microwave control lines for a transmon qubit using (i) flexible stripline transmission lines and (ii) semi-rigid coaxial cables. During each experiment, we performed repeated measurements of the energy relaxation and coherence times of a transmon qubit using one of the wiring configurations. Each measurement run spanned 70–250 h of the measurement time, and four separate cooldowns were performed so that each configuration could be tested twice. From these datasets, we observe that changing the microwave control lines from coaxial cables to flexible stripline transmission lines does not have a measurable effect on coherence compared to thermal cycling the system or random coherence fluctuations. Our results open up the possibility of large-scale integration of qubit control lines with integrated component with planar layouts on flexible substrate.

Structural Relaxation Time of a Polymer Glass during Deformation.

In order to determine the structural relaxation time of a polymer glass during deformation, a strain rate switching experiment is performed in the steady-state plastic flow regime. A lightly cross-linked poly(methylmethacrylate) glass was utilized and, simultaneously, the segmental motion in the glass was quantified using an optical probe reorientation method. After the strain rate switch, a nonmonotonic stress response is observed, consistent with previous work. The correlation time for segmental motion, in contrast, monotonically evolves toward a new steady state, providing an unambiguous measurement of the structural relaxation time during deformation, which is found to be approximately equal to the segmental correlation time. The Chen-Schweizer model qualitatively predicts the changes in the segmental correlation time and the observed nonmonotonic stress response. In addition, our experiments are reasonably consistent with the material time assumption used in polymer deformation modeling; in this approach, the response of a polymer glass to a large deformation is described by combining a linear-response model with a time-dependent segmental correlation time.

A straightforward procedure to build a non-toxic relaxometry phantom with desired T1 and T2 times at 3T

ObjectiveTo prepare and analyze soy-lecithin-agar gels for non-toxic relaxometry phantoms with tissue-like relaxation times at 3T.MethodsPhantoms mimicking the relaxation times of various tissues (gray and white matter, kidney cortex and medulla, spleen, muscle, liver) were built and tested with a clinical 3T whole-body MR scanner. Simple equations were derived to calculate the appropriate concentrations of soy lecithin and agar in aqueous solutions to achieve the desired relaxation times. Phantoms were tested for correspondence between measurements and calculated T1 and T2 values, reproducibility, spatial homogeneity, and temporal stability. T1 and T2 mapping techniques and a 3D T1-weighted sequence with high spatial resolution were applied.ResultsExcept for the liver relaxation phantom, all phantoms were successfully and reproducibly produced. Good agreement was found between the targeted and measured relaxation times. The percentage deviations from the targeted relaxation times were less than 3% for T1 and less than 6.5% for T2. In addition, the phantoms were homogeneous and had little to no air bubbles. However, the phantoms were unstable over time: after a storage period of 4 weeks, mold growth and also changes in relaxation times were detected in almost all phantoms.ConclusionSoy-lecithin-agar gels are a non-toxic material for the construction of relaxometry phantoms with tissue-like relaxation times. They are easy to prepare, inexpensive and allow independent adjustment of T1 and T2. However, there is still work to be done to improve the long-term stability of the phantoms.

Measurement of the rotational relaxation time of intracellular water in dried yeast and Jurkat cells by near infrared spectroscopy

Molecular mobility of intracellular water is a crucial parameter in the study of the mechanism of desiccation tolerance. As one of the parameters that reflecting molecular mobility, the viscosity of intracellular water has been found intimately related with the protection of the phospholipid membrane because it quantifies the diffusion ability of water and mass in the intracellular environment. In this work we measured the intracellular water relaxation time, which can be translated into water viscosity, by using a previously established NIR-dielectric method to monitor the drying process of baker's yeast and Jurkat cells with different desiccation tolerance. We found that intracellular saccharide can significantly decrease the intracellular water viscosity. Also, the intracellular water diffusion coefficient obtained from this method were found in good agreement with other reports.

Mechanism analysis of rheological properties of 3D printed steel slag cementitious composite based on low field nuclear magnetic relaxation test

Rheological properties play a crucial role in characterizing 3D printed cement-based materials. To further investigate the mechanism behind rheological evolution, this study employs low-field NMR relaxation time measurement to characterize the microstructure evolution of 3D printed steel slag cementitious material within the first 6 hours. This is combined with rheological parameters to explore the relationship between the mixture's rheological properties and pore microstructure over time. The results demonstrate that relaxation time effectively represents the temporal characteristics of rheological parameters, while pore throat distribution (0–0.1μm) exhibits a positive correlation with plastic viscosity. Low-field NMR relaxation characteristics can effectively describe early properties of 3D printed cementitious materials and provide valuable data support for future exploration of non-destructive testing during early stages.

Proton relaxometry of tree leaves at hypogeomagnetic fields.

We report on a cross-species proton-relaxometry study in ex vivo tree leaves using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) at 7µT. Apart from the intrinsic interest of probing nuclear-spin relaxation in biological tissues at magnetic fields below Earth field, our setup enables comparative analysis of plant water dynamics without the use of expensive commercial spectrometers. In this work, we focus on leaves from common Eurasian evergreen and deciduous tree families: Pinaceae (pine, spruce), Taxaceae (yew), Betulaceae (hazel), Prunus (cherry), and Fagaceae (beech, oak). Using a nondestructive protocol, we measure their effective proton T 2 relaxation times as well as track the evolution of water content associated with leaf dehydration. Newly developed "gradiometric quadrature" detection and data-processing techniques are applied in order to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the relatively weak measured signals. We find that while measured relaxation times do not vary significantly among tree genera, they tend to increase as leaves dehydrate. Such experimental modalities may have particular relevance for future drought-stress research in ecology, agriculture, and space exploration.

Correlation of low field nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation with composition and glass transition of hard candies

Hard candies produced from sucrose and doctoring agents such as glucose syrup (GS) and high fructose corn syrup (FS) have been investigated in terms of their final composition, glass transition temperature (Tg), degree of crystallinity, total soluble solids (TSS) content and water activity (aw). Time domain (TD) 1H NMR longitudinal relaxation time (T1) and second moment (M2) measurements have been used to understand the glassy state and crystallization characteristics for different hard candy formulations. The investigated candies include sucrose as the main sugar component. Different levels of doctoring agents have been mixed with sucrose to obtain products with different characteristics. It has been shown that addition of any doctoring agent to sucrose formulations decreases the Tg of the system significantly (p≤ 0.05). Furthermore, GS or FS addition also induce significant changes in TSS and aw. T1 and M2 results are almost parallel to each other, both reaching the highest values for the highest sucrose concentration (p≤ 0.05). The results demonstrate that the glass transition and crystallization characteristics of hard candy formulations can be monitored and analyzed by TD NMR relaxometry, alternative to other frequently used conventional methods including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction.

Improvements in Between-Vendor MRI Harmonization of Renal T2 Mapping using Stimulated Echo Compensation.

T2 mapping is valuable to evaluate pathophysiology in kidney disease. However, variations in T2 relaxation time measurements across MR scanners and vendors may occur requiring additional correction. To harmonize renal T2 measurements between MR vendor platforms, and use an extended-phase-graph-based fitting method ("StimFit") to correct stimulated echoes and reduce between-vendor variations. Prospective. 8 healthy "travelling" volunteers (37.5% female, 32 ± 6 years) imaged on four MRI systems across three vendors at four sites, 10 healthy volunteers (50% female, 32 ± 8 years) scanned multiple times on a given MR scanner for repeatability evaluation. ISMRM/NIST system phantom scanned for evaluation of T2 accuracy. 3T, multiecho spin-echo sequence. T2 images fit using conventional monoexponential fitting and "StimFit." Mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of phantom measurements with reference T2 values. Average cortex and medulla T2 values compared between MR vendors, with masks obtained from T2-weighted images and T1 maps. Full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) T2 distributions to evaluate local homogeneity of measurements. Coefficient of variation (CV), linear mixed-effects model, analysis of variance, student's t-tests, Bland-Altman plots, P-value <0.05 considered statistically significant. In the ISMRM/NIST phantom, "StimFit" reduced the MAPE from 4.9%, 9.1%, 24.4%, and 18.1% for the four sites (three vendors) to 3.3%, 3.0%, 6.6%, and 4.1%, respectively. In vivo, there was a significant difference in kidney T2 measurements between vendors using a monoexponential fit, but not with "StimFit" (P = 0.86 and 0.92, cortex and medulla, respectively). The intervendor CVs of T2 measures were reduced from 8.0% to 2.6% (cortex) and 7.1% to 2.8% (medulla) with StimFit, resulting in no significant differences for the CVs of intravendor repeat acquisitions (P = 0.13 and 0.05). "StimFit" significantly reduced the FWHM of T2 distributions in the cortex and whole kidney. Stimulated-echo correction reduces renal T2 variation across MR vendor platforms. 2 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 1.

7 Tesla MRI Liver Fat Quantification in Mice: Data Quality Assessment.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the robustness of proton density fat fraction (PDFF) data determined by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS) via spatially resolved error estimation. Using standard T2* relaxation time measurement protocols, in-vivo and ex-vivo MRI data with water and fat nominally in phase or out of phase relative to each other were acquired on a 7 T small animal scanner. Based on a total of 24 different echo times, PDFF maps were calculated in a magnitude-based approach. After identification of the decisive error-prone variables, pixel-wise error estimation was performed by simple propagation of uncertainty. The method was then used to evaluate PDFF data acquired for an explanted mouse liver and an in vivo mouse liver measurement. The determined error maps helped excluding measurement errors as cause of unexpected local PDFF variations in the explanted liver. For in vivo measurements, severe error maps gave rise to doubts in the acquired PDFF maps and triggered an in-depth analysis of possible causes, yielding abdominal movement or bladder filling as in vivo occurring reasons for the increased errors. The combination of pixel-wise acquisition of PDFF data and the corresponding error maps allows for a more specific, spatially resolved evaluation of the PDFF value reliability.

Quantification of the in vivo brain ultrashort-T2* component in healthy volunteers.

Recent work has shown MRI is able to measure and quantify signals of phospholipid membrane-bound protons associated with myelin in the human brain. This work seeks to develop an improved technique for characterizing this brain ultrashort- component in vivo accounting for weighting. Data from ultrashort echo time scans from 16 healthy volunteers with variable flip angles (VFA) were collected and fitted into an advanced regression model to quantify signal fraction, relaxation time, and frequency shift of the ultrashort- component. The fitted components show intra-subject differences of different white matter structures and significantly elevated ultrashort- signal fraction in the corticospinal tracts measured at 0.09 versus 0.06 in other white matter structures and significantly elevated ultrashort- frequency shift in the body of the corpus callosum at 1.5 versus 2.0 ppm in other white matter structures. The significantly different measured components and measured relaxation time of the ultrashort- component suggest that this method is picking up novel signals from phospholipid membrane-bound protons.

Comparative investigations on α relaxation and conductivity of probe ions in a series of small molecular liquids

The coupling between translational motion and rotational motion in liquids is one of the long-standing concerns in condensed matter physics. The relaxation times of α relaxation and probe ion conductivities in a series of small molecular liquids, 15 types of single and binary small molecular liquids with different molecular shapes and functional groups when the number of carbon atoms is in a range from 3 to 14, are simultaneously obtained by dielectric spectroscopy method in this work. The results indicate that the coupling between translation and rotation is not directly related to the functional group of liquid molecules, nor very sensitive to the shape nor the size of molecules or ion size. However, the microstructure of liquid is a key factor affecting the coupling between translation and rotation. In other words, when the microstructure of the liquid is unchanged, the dependence of relaxation time on temperature is consistent with the dependence of conductivity reciprocal on temperature, whether in single small molecular liquids or in binary small molecular liquids, which provides a method for measuring relaxation time. The research results also show that the temperature dependence of the conductivity of the impurity ions carried by the liquid itself is consistent with the one of quantitatively doped ions, providing the ideas for investigating the ion conductivity behavior in organic small molecular liquids with low electrolyte solubilities. The experimental results of monohydroxy alcohol are consistent with the viewpoint that α relaxation rather than Debye relaxation corresponds to the system structure relaxation.

Quantitative evaluation of adsorption behavior of carboxymethylcellulose on carbon nanotubes by time-domain NMR with the aim of obtaining stable dispersions

This study applied time domain NMR (TD‐NMR) to investigate the effect of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) adsorption on the dispersion of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in water. In many aqueous dispersions, the relaxation time measured by TD‐NMR is dominated by bound water on the particle surface. In contrast, since CMC molecules are adsorbed on the hydrophobic surface of CNTs, we proposed a model where relaxation times of hydration water of CMC adsorbed on CNTs, hydration water of free CMC, and bulk water are dynamically averaged in the TD‐NMR measurement. In this study, conversely, we presented the procedure to calculate the fraction of CMC adsorbed on CNTs from the measured relaxation time. Since the adsorbed layer of CMC can stabilize CNTs, the amount of adsorbed CMC is expected to be closely related to the dispersion state of CNTs. TD‐NMR measurements of CNT slurrys with different CMC concentrations showed that the adsorption ratio reached almost 100% (adsorption saturation) when the CMC concentration became larger than that of CNTs. At the adsorption saturation, it was confirmed that the CNT slurry exhibited the lowest apparent viscosity, and the model electrode showed the highest electro-conductivity. In addition, we demonstrated that the adsorption ratio is helpful to assess the dispersion state of CNTs and to optimize the dispersion process. The current study showed that TD‐NMR is very useful for quantitative evaluation of sterically stabilized dispersions because it can evaluate the adsorption rate of adsorbed polymers without dilution.

Distribution of Relaxation Times of Fuel Electrodes for Reversible Solid Oxide Cells Fabricated Under Various Conditions

Introduction Reversible solid oxide cells (r-SOCs) are electrochemical energy devices that can switch reversibly between power generation as a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and hydrogen production as a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC). It is important to systematically understand the electrode reaction processes and degradation factors in these two modes to tailor high-performance and durable r-SOC electrodes. The dependence of polarization resistance on cell fabrication conditions and operating conditions has been individually investigated for SOFC and SOEC by impedance measurement and distribution of relaxation times (DRT) analysis [1-4], but it is necessary to evaluate r-SOC as a whole [5]. Here in this study, we aim to systematically clarify the similarities and differences in the electrode reaction processes at the fuel electrodes of both SOFC and SOEC modes of r-SOCs, with respect to fuel electrode fabrication conditions. Experimental Several types of cells were fabricated with different fuel electrode constituent materials, thicknesses, and sintering temperatures. Three types of fuel electrode materials were used: Ni-GDC cermet, a composite of Ni and mixed ionic-electronic conductor Gd0.9Ce0.1O3 (GDC); Ni-YSZ cermet, a composite of Ni and pure ionic conductor YSZ (8 mol% Y2O3 - stabilized ZrO2); and Ni-GDC co-impregnated electrode with LST-GDC as a backbone support (LST: La0.1Sr0.9TiO3). Scandia-stabilized zirconia (ScSZ) was used as the electrolyte plate, and (La0.6Sr0.4)(Co0.2Fe0.8)O3 (LSCF) was used as the air electrode. GDC buffer layer was prepared between the electrolyte and the air electrode to suppress the formation of interfacial insulting layers.Electrochemical impedance measurements were performed for the fuel electrode of the fabricated cell under SOFC and SOEC modes by supplying H2-H2O mixture and varying operating temperature, fuel humidification, and current density. The DRT analysis was conducted to separate various polarization resistance components of the fuel electrode with different relaxation times. The area of each DRT peak corresponds to the resistance of each electrode reaction process. In this study, activation energy was derived based on the assumption that the electrical conductance is of an Arrhenius-type thermally activated character. Its dependence on the fuel electrode fabrication conditions was investigated. Furthermore, electrode microstructure was observed by using focused-ion beam scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM). Results and Discussion Figure 1 shows typical DRT peaks of the Ni-GDC cermet fuel electrode in (a) SOFC and (b) SOEC modes, measured at different temperatures. In the range of 10-1 to 106 Hz where the frequency response was measured, three DRT peaks appeared, P1: 10-1 to 100 Hz, P2: 100 to 102 Hz, and P3: 102 to 103 Hz, all with a DRT peak area decreasing with increasing operating temperature. This indicates that there are at least three electrode reaction processes with different relaxation times, which are thermally active processes. Activation energies of 0.1-0.3 eV (SOFC mode) and 0.2-0.5 eV (SOEC mode) were obtained for P1, and 0.9-1.0 eV (SOFC mode) and 1.1-1.3 eV (SOEC mode) for P2. The activation energies in SOEC mode were higher than those in SOFC mode for both P1 and P2. In the presentation, the dependence of activation energies on the fuel electrode constituent materials and related electrode reaction processes will be discussed.

Convenient measurement of 129Xe relaxation times without the influence of intensity gradient of pump laser

Convenient measurement of 129Xe relaxation times without the influence of intensity gradient of pump laser

Measurement of spin-lattice relaxation times in multiphase polymer systems

Solid-state Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) has emerged as a pivotal technique for unraveling the microstructure and dynamics of intricate polymer and biological materials. Within this context, site-specific proton spin–lattice relaxation times in the laboratory frame (T1) and rotating frame (T1ρ) have become indispensable tools for investigating phase separation structures and molecular dynamics in multiphase polymer systems. Notably, the site-specific measurement of proton T1 and T1ρ is usually achieved via 13C detection in polymers, where 1H polarization is typically transferred to 13C via cross polarization (CP). Nevertheless, CP relies on the 1H–13C heteronuclear dipolar couplings, and thus it does not work well for the mobile components. In this study, via the integration of CP and RINEPT (refocused insensitive nuclei enhanced by polarization transfer), we propose a robust approach for the measurement of site-specific proton T1 and T1ρ in multiphase polymers. It overcomes the limitation of CP on transferring 1H polarization to 13C in mobile components, and thus enables simultaneous determination of site-specific proton T1 and T1ρ in rigid and mobile components in multiphase polymers in a single experiment. Such experiment can also be used for dynamics-based spectral editing due to the dynamic selectivity of CP- and RINEPT-based polarization transfer process. The proposed experiments are well demonstrated on three typical multiphase polymer systems, poly(methyl methacrylate)/polybutadiene (PMMA/PB) polymer blend, polyurethane (PU) and polystyrene–polybutadiene–polystyrene (SBS) elastomers. We envisage the proposed experiments can be a universal avenue for structural and dynamic elucidation of multiphase polymers containing both rigid and mobile components.

T1rho and T2rho based myocardial tissue characterisation in small animals at high-field MRI

Abstract Introduction Cardiac tissue characterisation using T2-based MRI promises non-invasive diagnosis or monitoring of inflammatory heart disease, toxic heart damage after chemotherapy and myocardial infarction or post-infarction patients. T2 relaxation is also an indicator for the detection of myocardial oedema or intramyocardial haemorrhage [1]. However, accurate T2 quantification is challenging due to motion, blood flow and field inhomogeneities, especially in high-field MRI [2]. In this work, we present an alternative to T2 imaging that uses spin-locking (SL) to provide a robust measurement of T2ρ relaxation. It is known from relaxation theory that T2ρ has a sensitivity almost identical to T2 [3]. In the small animal study presented here, cardiac T2ρ quantification is tested for the first time using a newly developed pulse sequence and compared with established methods. Methods All measurements were performed on a preclinical 7T MRI. T2 contrast was prepared using a CPMG (Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill) sequence. T2ρ contrast was conventionally generated by a balanced-SL (BSL) preparation [4]. Furthermore, a new approach for T2ρ was developed based on a MLEV sequence (Malcolm-Levitt, [2]). In contrast to [2], all pulse delays were minimised here, producing pure T2ρ contrast (Fig. 1). The new method was first validated in phantom experiments and then tested in three mice with radial image acquisition accelerated for cardio-MRI. Results The results of the phantom study are shown in figure 2. No significant differences were found between BSL and MLEV for T2ρ quantification (mean deviation 0.74%). In vivo, significant artefacts were observed for T2 (Fig. 3), while both T2ρ methods showed improved image quality. For the evaluation of relaxation times in the left ventricle, the mean across all animals was: T2=22.9±2.6ms (R2=0.979), BSL-T2ρ=51.4±5.4ms (R2=0.983) and MLEV-T2ρ=60.0±3.4ms (R2&amp;gt;0.99). Thus, the MLEV-T2ρ method achieves the most robust quantification with a mean R2&amp;gt;0.99 and provides relaxation time maps with diagnostic image quality. Discussion: In the present study, myocardial T2ρ mapping was tested at 7T. While no significant differences between BSL and MLEV appeared in phantom experiments, significant difference was found in vivo. Here, only the MLEV technique could achieve robust quantification. One reason for the improved performance is the continuous refocusing and minimisation of free dephasing of the transverse magnetisation. The results also show that MLEV-T2ρ has improved image quality and more robust quantification compared to CPMG-T2. Conclusion Cardiac T2ρ quantification is a robust alternative to established T2 imaging and can be applied under high-field conditions. A combined measurement of T1ρ and T2ρ relaxation time could be used for native detection of myocardial fibrosis and oedema.Figure 1)Comparison of image qualityFigure 2)Results in a knockout model

Rapid measurement of longitudinal nuclear spin relaxation time based on the in-situ longitudinal magnetometer in Rb–Xe comagnetometers

The longitudinal relaxation time T1 of Xe nuclear spins is an important parameter to determine the performance of Rb–Xe comagnetometers. The industry standard delayed pulse method is time-consuming, and requires multiple π pulses and π/2 pulses. In this work, a direct measurement method for obtaining T1 based on the in-situ longitudinal magnetometer is introduced with the measurement period shortened to 3-5 T1. The proposed method requires only a single π pulse, reducing the measurement time by approximately more than 90%. By solving the Bloch equation, the working principle of the longitudinal magnetometer and the measurement method is demonstrated. The experiment shows that the longitudinal magnetometer achieves a linear working range greater than 60 nT, and the difference in measurement results of T1 through different methods at different temperatures and pump beam power is less than 3%. In addition, the longitudinal magnetometer introduced in this method has broad prospects for measuring the basic physical quantities in comagnetometers.

Compatibility–structural color property relationship of binary blends of acetylated hydroxypropyl celluloses with different degrees of acetylation

AbstractPolymer blends containing liquid crystalline cellulose derivatives potentially enable the fabrication of optical functional materials because of their unique optical properties, that is, structural color and circular dichroism. However, studies on the effect of the compatibility of the components on the optical properties of such blends are scarce, even though component compatibility is a crucial factor for the physical properties of the polymer blends. In this study, we investigated the effect of the component compatibility on the structural color property of binary blends of acetylated hydroxypropyl celluloses (AHPCs) with different degrees of acetylation (DSAc). The spectroscopic analyses of the AHPC blends revealed that the structural color of blends with a small DSAc gap between AHPC components systematically changed with the blend composition, whereas the color of blends with a large DSAc gap was independent of the composition. Compatibility tests via spin–lattice relaxation time measurements using solid‐state nuclear magnetic resonance indicated that the different composition dependence of the color was attributed to the compatibility of the components, which varied according to the DSAc gap.

Electron spin resonance in emerging spin-driven applications: Fundamentals and future perspectives

Spin, the intrinsic angular momentum of an electron, is increasingly being recognized as a versatile tool in the development of next-generation technologies, including quantum computing, sensing, and communication, which exploit quantum phenomena. The burgeoning theoretical understanding coupled with technological advancements have catalyzed research efforts aimed at controlling and manipulating the optical, electrical, magnetic, and thermal properties of materials through the modulation of spin states. Among the myriad of techniques available for investigating these spin-dependent properties, Electron Spin Resonance (ESR), sometimes referred to as electron paramagnetic resonance, stands out as one of the most direct and potent methods to probe electron spin dynamics irrespective of the material environment. ESR furnishes insightful data on the states of individual spins and clusters, spin coherence via relaxation time measurements, and inter-spin distances from spin–spin interaction measurements. Additionally, ESR facilitates the manipulation of spin systems by tailoring the Zeeman energy through the modulation of the external magnetic field, and critically, by the remote manipulation of spins via the application of microwave pulses at resonance frequencies. Modern ESR experimental setups are versatile and can be employed across a wide temperature spectrum—from a few Kelvin, where quantum effects are pronounced, to room temperature and beyond. This adaptability enhances the utility of ESR in investigating the spin-dependent properties in condensed matter systems. Notwithstanding the tremendous potential and advantages that ESR offers, it remains underutilized, especially when compared to inelastic neutron scattering (INS) and nuclear magnetic resonance, despite the latter being more expensive and INS being less accessible. In this review, we elucidate the fundamental principles of ESR, with an emphasis on magnetic and spin interactions in solids, and explore the potential of ESR in advancing the understanding of spin properties across a diverse array of materials science disciplines. We commence with a concise introduction to spin-related physics, followed by the application of ESR in characterizing spin systems. As such, this review aims to serve as a valuable resource for a broad audience, ranging from novices to experts, who are keen on unraveling spin phenomena and dynamics in materials science and condensed matter physics.