Radio Frequency Coils for Ultra-high Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become a powerful tool not only to analyze the anatomical structures of the human body non invasively but also to investigate brain activity with functional MRI. The promise of increase in signal to noise ratio and spectral resolution proportional to the main magnetic field strength motivated a few research laboratories to pursue even higher field strengths. The 9.4T whole body human scanner and the 16.4T animal scanner installed at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tuebingen were, for many years, the worlds strongest magnets in their respective categories. In addition to the strong magnets, radio frequency (RF) coils are also equally important in realising the benefits offered by the high field MRI scanners. The aim of this thesis work is to develop optimized RF coils and RF hardware for ultra-high high field MRI.