Probing pores using elementary quantum mechanics

The relaxation of polarized spins in a porous medium has been utilized as a probe of its structure. We note that the governing diffusion problem has a close parallel to that of a particle in a box, an elementary Quantum mechanics toy model. Following the spirits of “free electron” model, we use generic properties of the eigen spectrum to understand features common to a wide variety of pore geometry, consistent with large scale numerical simulations and experimental data.