Functional neuroimaging of inner fields-of-view with 2D-selective RF excitations

Echo-planar imaging is widely used in functional neuroimaging but suffers from its pronounced sensitivity to field inhomogeneities that cause geometric distortions and image blurring which both limit the effective in-plane resolution achievable. In this work, it is shown how inner-field-of-view techniques based on 2D-selective RF excitations (2DRF) can be applied to reduce the field-of-view in the phase-encoding direction without aliasing and increase the in-plane resolution accordingly. Free-induction-decay (FID) EPI and echo-train-shifted (T2*-weighted) and standard (T2-weighted) spin-echo (SE) EPI with in-plane resolutions of up to 0.5×1.0 mm² (slice thickness 5 mm) were acquired at 3 T. Unwanted signal contributions of 2DRF side excitations were shifted out of the object (FID-EPI) or of the refocusing plane by tilting the excitation plane (SE-EPI). Brain activation in healthy volunteers was investigated with checkerboard and finger-tapping block-design paradigms. Brain activation could be detected with all sequences and contrasts, most reliably with FID-EPI due to its higher signal amplitude and the longer 2DRF excitation that are more sensitive to magnetic field inhomogeneities. In conclusion, inner-FOV EPI based on 2DRF excitations could help to improve the spatial resolution of fMRI of focal target regions, e.g. for applications in the spinal cord.     

BEPCII新加速管的高功率测试和老练

BEPCⅡ(北京正负电子对撞机重大改进工程)要求其直线注入器提供更高的能量和流强,为此必须改进正电子产生靶前后的加速管,以提高加速梯度,并消除原有加速管因长期运行后性能有所下降的隐患.本文叙述了新加速管的高功率测试,包括测试装置的设计、建立,微波功率源(速调管)的调试和加速管高功率测试结果及其分析.     

HIRFL与CSR的匹配研究

国家重大科学工程HIRFLCSR冷却储存环计划主环CSRm利用已有的HIRFL作为注入器,为了更好地利用HIRFL加速器的能力,对这两台加速器的匹配在原来的初步考虑的基础上进行了较为详细的研究,提出了分别利用HIRFL自己的注入器SFC单独注入到CSR以及SFC加上主加速器SSC注入到CSR的两套方案,既可以提高HIRFL与CSR的总传输效率,又可以在SFC与CSR联合运行的同时使SSC与另建的小回旋加速器组合加速质子,从而充分提高HIRFL的运行效率.     

Semi-adiabatic Shinnar–Le Roux pulses and their application to diffusion tensor imaging of humans at 7T

The adiabatic Shinnar–Le Roux (SLR) algorithm for radiofrequency (RF) pulse design enables systematic control of pulse parameters such as bandwidth, RF energy distribution and duration. Some applications, such as diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) at high magnetic fields, would benefit from RF pulses that can provide greater B₁ insensitivity while adhering to echo time and specific absorption rate (SAR) limits. In this study, the adiabatic SLR algorithm was employed to generate 6-ms and 4-ms 180° semi-adiabatic RF pulses which were used to replace the refocusing pulses in a twice-refocused spin echo (TRSE) diffusion-weighted echo planar imaging (DW-EPI) sequence to create two versions of a twice-refocused adiabatic spin echo (TRASE) sequence. The two versions were designed for different trade-offs between adiabaticity and echo time. Since a pair of identical refocusing pulses is applied, the quadratic phase imposed by the first is unwound by the second, preserving the linear phase created by the excitation pulse. In vivo images of the human brain obtained at 7 Testa (7 T) demonstrate that both versions of the TRASE sequence developed in this study achieve more homogeneous signal in the diffusion-weighted images than the conventional TRSE sequence. Semi-adiabatic SLR pulses offer a more B₁-insensitive solution for diffusion preparation at 7 T, while operating within SAR constraints. This method may be coupled with any EPI readout trajectory and parallel imaging scheme to provide more uniform coverage for diffusion tensor imaging at 7 T and 3 T.     

Beam dynamics and RF design of trapezoidal IH-RFQ with low energy spread

Beam dynamics and RF design have been performed of a new type trapezoidal IH-RFQ operating at 104 MHz for acceleration of 14C+ in the framework of RFQ based 14C AMS facility at Peking University. Low energy spread RFQ beam dynamics design was approached by the method of internal discrete bunching. 14C+ will be accelerated from 40 keV to 500 keV with the length of about 1.1 m. The designed transmission efficiency is better than 95% and the energy spread is as low as 0.6%. Combining the beam dynamics design, a trapezoidal IH-RFQ structure was proposed, which can be cooled more easily and has better mechanical performance than traditional RFQ. Electromagnetic field distribution was simulated by using CST Microwave Studio (MWS). The specific shunt impedance and the quality factor were optimized primarily.     

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.     

储存环高频剔除系统

 介绍了用于电子储存环部分填充和非均匀填充的一种实验装置,它利用储存环中电子运动所具有的横向自由振荡和束团脉冲的时间结构这一特性,采用外加激励的方法使其产生共振,从而使得储存环中部分束团中的电子丢失,形成储存环的部分填充和非均匀填充。还扼要介绍了用高频剔除系统在储存环上实现不同填充方式时的束流积累结果。     

Nonlinear phase adjustment of selective excitation pulses

A continuous transformation of an RF waveform with a modified Korteweg-de Vries equation or generalization can be used to adjust the phase behavior of a selective excitation pulse while preserving the magnitude behavior of the spin response. This transformation has applications in removing or adding to the nonlinear phase properties of a selected region.