Patent ID: 8542014

Claim:
A system for gathering information about an object, the object comprising single domain iron oxide particles having a diameter in the range of 5 nm to 80 nm, the system comprising: a first field generator configured to generate a static magnetic field of less than 0.1 Tesla for the object; a second field generator configured to generate radio frequency (RF) energy as a continuous wave for the object at a frequency to generate electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) of the single domain iron oxide particles; and a detection unit configured to detect the electron paramagnetic resonance of the single domain iron oxide particles, wherein the electron paramagnetic resonance is proportional to the magnetization of the single domain iron oxide particles, the magnetization inducing an RF field which is detected by the detection unit, wherein the detection unit comprises a receiver adapted for identifying a response to the generated RF energy and adapted for identifying a signature imposed on the response being indicative of the electron paramagnetic resonance exhibited by the single domain particles.