A volume microstrip RF coil for MRI microscopy

Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of small samples such as a single cell or cell clusters require application of radiofrequency (RF) coils that provide homogenous B₁ field distribution and high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).We present a novel design of an MRI RF volume microcoil based on a microstrip structure. The coil consists of two parallel microstrip elements conducting RF currents in the opposite directions, thus creating homogenous RF field within the space between the microstrips. The construction of the microcoil is simple, efficient and cost-effective.Theoretical calculations and finite element method simulations were used to optimize the coil geometry to achieve optimal B₁ and SNR distributions within the sample and predict parameters of the coil. The theoretical calculations were confirmed with MR images of a 1-mm-diameter capillary and a plant obtained with the double microstrip RF microcoil at 11.7 T. The in-plane resolution of MR images was 24 μm×24 μm.     

T1rho-weighted MRI using a surface coil to transmit spin-lock pulses

T1rho-weighted MRI is a novel basis for generating tissue contrast. However, it suffers from sensitivity to B1 inhomogeneity. First, excitation with a spatially varying B1 causes flip-angle artifacts and second, spin locking with an inhomogeneous B1 results in non-uniform T1rho contrast. In this study, we overcome the former complication with a specially designed spin-locking pulse sequence and we successfully obtain T1rho-weighted images with a surface coil. In this pulse sequence, the spin-lock pulse was divided into segments of equal duration and alternating phase. This "self-compensating" T1rho-preparatory pulse sequence was analyzed and the effect of an inhomogeneous B1 field was simulated using the Bloch equations. T1rho-weighted MR images of a phantom and a human knee joint in vivo were obtained on a clinical scanner with a surface coil to demonstrate the utility of the pulse sequence. The self-compensating T1rho-prepared pulses sequence resulted in substantially reduced image artifacts compared to the conventional, single-phase spin-lock pulse.     

A direct modulated optical link for MRI RF receive coil interconnection

Optical glass fiber is a promising alternative to traditional coaxial cables for MRI RF receive coil interconnection to avoid any crosstalk and electromagnetic interference between multiple channels. A direct modulated optical link is proposed for MRI coil interconnection in this paper. The link performances of power gain, frequency response and dynamic range are measured. Phantom and in vivo human head images have been demonstrated by the connection of this direct modulated optical link to a head coil on a 0.3T MRI scanner for the first time. Comparable image qualities to coaxial cable link verify the feasibility of using the optical link for imaging with minor modification on the existing scanners. This optical link could also be easily extended for multi-channel array interconnections at high field of 1.5 T.     

A versatile composite surface model for electromagnetic backscattering from seas

A versatile composite surface model (VCSM) is presented for estimation of the electromagnetic backscattering coefficient of the sea. Taking into account the statistical characteristics of the sea surface and the validity conditions of component models for the small-scale and large-scale surfaces in the composite surface model (CSM), a method for the two-scale decomposition of sea surfaces is introduced. On this basis, the cutoff wavenumber with wind speed dependence and incident wave frequency dependence is applied to separate the sea spectrum into large- and small-scale components at different sea states with increased accuracy. Then, numerical results of the backscattering coefficient are evaluated and discussed in the case of different wind speeds, polarizations as well as incident frequencies. Finally, the VCSM is verified through the comparisons with the available experimental data, and the comparisons of the VCSM results and the classical CSM results also show that the VCSM behaves better.     

A new versatile laser sheet generator for flow visualization

A new dynamic laser sheet generator for flow visualization is described: the double xy sweep of a focused laser beam allows light volumes to be obtained whose geometrical parameters are easily adjustable; the volume boundaries are well defined and the power density distributions are nearly homogeneous in the central area.     

A new type of magnetic field gradient coil for NMR measurements

General expressions for the components of magnetic field and magnetic field gradient are given for polygonal gradient coils of the point-group symmetry D_n. It is shown that triangular coils (n = 3) are particularly suitable for NMR applications and supply the high and uniform value of the gradient over relatively great volume. Moreover, for n > 3, it is found that at the magic angle between symmetry axis C_n and axis Z, of external magnetic field B₀, the gradient of B_z is perpendicular to B₀. This new feature may be very useful in NMR spin-echo measurements of anisotropic translational diffusion.     

A practical multinuclear transceiver volume coil for in vivo MRI/MRS at 7 T

A practical multinuclear transceiver RF volume coil with improved efficiency for in vivo small animal ¹H/¹³C/²³Na MR applications at the ultrahigh magnetic field of 7 T is reported. In the proposed design, the coil's resonance frequencies for ¹H and ¹³C are realized by using a traditional double-tuned approach, while the resonant frequency for ²³Na, which is only some 4 MHz away from the ¹³C frequency, is tuned based upon ¹³C channel by easy-operating capacitive “frequency switches”. In contrast to the traditional triple-tuned volume coil, the volume coil with the proposed design possesses less number of resonances, which helps improve the coil efficiency and alleviate the design and operation difficulties. This coil design strategy is advantageous and well suitable for multinuclear MR imaging and spectroscopy studies, particularly in the case where Larmor frequencies of nuclei in question are not separate enough. The prototype multinuclear coil was demonstrated in the desired unshielded design for easy construction and experiment implementation at 7 T. The design method may provide a practical and robust solution to designing multinuclear RF volume coils for in vivo MR imaging and spectroscopy at ultrahigh fields. Finite difference time domain method simulations for evaluating the design and 7-T MR experiment results acquired using the prototype coil are presented.     

An iterative method for coil sensitivity estimation in multi-coil MRI systems

This paper presents an iterative coil sensitivity estimation method for multi-coil MRI systems. The proposed method works with coil images in the magnitude image domain. It determines a region of support (RoS), a region being composed of the same type of tissues, by a region growing algorithm, which makes use of both intensities and intensity gradients of pixels. By repeating this procedure, it can determine multiple regions of support, which together cover most of the concerned image area. The union of these regions of support provides a rough estimate of the sensitivity of each coil through dividing the intensities of pixels by the average intensity inside every region of support. The obtained rough coil sensitivity estimate is further approached with the product of multiple low-order polynomials, rather than a single one. The product of these polynomials provides a smooth estimate of the sensitivity of each coil. With the obtained sensitivities of coils, it can produce a better reconstructed image, which determines more correct regions of support and yields preciser estimates of the sensitivities of coils. In other words, the method can be iteratively implemented to improve the estimation performance. The proposed method was verified through both simulated data and clinical data from different body parts. The experimental results confirm the superiority of our method to some conventional methods.     

Practical design of a 4 Tesla double-tuned RF surface coil for interleaved 1H and 23Na MRI of rat brain

MRI is proving to be a very useful tool for sodium quantification in animal models of stroke, ischemia, and cancer. In this work, we present the practical design of a dual-frequency RF surface coil that provides (1)H and (23)Na images of the rat head at 4 T. The dual-frequency RF surface coil comprised of a large loop tuned to the (1)H frequency and a smaller co-planar loop tuned to the (23)Na frequency. The mutual coupling between the two loops was eliminated by the use of a trap circuit inserted in the smaller coil. This independent-loop design was versatile since it enabled a separate optimisation of the sensitivity and RF field distributions of the two coils. To allow for an easy extension of this simple double-tuned coil design to other frequencies (nuclei) and dimensions, we describe in detail the practical aspects of the workbench design and MRI testing using a phantom that mimics in vivo conditions. A comparison between our independent-loop, double-tuned coil and a single-tuned (23)Na coil of equal size obtained with a phantom matching in vivo conditions, showed a reduction of the (23)Na sensitivity (about 28 %) because of signal losses in the trap inductance. Typical congruent (1)H and (23)Na rat brain images showing good SNR ((23)Na: brain 7, ventricular cerebrospinal fluid 11) and spatial resolution ((23)Na: 1.25 x 1.25 x 5mm(3)) are also reported. The in vivo SNR values obtained with this coil were comparable to, if not better than, other contemporary designs in the literature.     

An open volume, high isolation, radio frequency surface coil system for pulsed magnetic resonance

We present an open volume, high isolation, RF system suitable for pulsed NMR and EPR spectrometers with reduced dead time. It comprises a set of three RF surface coils disposed with mutually parallel RF fields and a double-channel receiver (RX). Theoretical and experimental results obtained with a prototype operating at about 100 MHz are reported. Each surface RF coil (diameter 5.5 cm) was tuned to f₀ = 100.00 ± 0.01 MHz when isolated. Because of the mutual coupling and the geometry of the RF coils, only two resonances at f₁ = 97.94 MHz and f₂ = 101.85 MHz were observed. We show they are associated with two different RF field spatial distributions. In continuous mode (CW) operation the isolation between the TX coil and one of the RX coils (single-channel) was about −10 dB. By setting the double-channel RF assembly in subtraction mode the isolation values at f₁ or f₂ could be optimised to about −75 dB. Following a TX RF pulse (5 μs duration) an exponential decay with time constant of about 600 ns was observed. The isolation with single-channel RX coil was about −11 dB and it increased to about −47 dB with the double-channel RX in subtraction mode. Similar results were obtained with the RF pulse frequency selected to f₂ and also with shorter (500 ns) RF pulses. The above geometrical parameters and operating frequency of the RF assembly were selected as a model for potential applications in solid state NMR and in free radical EPR spectroscopy and imaging.