An apparatus and method for receiving a magnetic resonance (MR) signal for imaging a patient. The MR signal includes a MR frequency. A radio frequency (RF) coil has first and second end portions. An impedance converter is in electrical communication with the RF coil. A preamplifier in electrical communication with the impedance converter, the preamplifier having a gain. At least one resonant circuit electrically connected to at least one end portion of the RF coil.

Systems and methods for locating a substance of interest below the Earth's surface are provided. One embodiment generates a downward directed magnetic pulse using a magnetic field pulse generator, wherein phonon energy is emitted by a plurality of nuclei in response to precession induced into the plurality of nuclei by the magnetic field pulse; detecting the phonon energy with at least one acoustic transducer; communicating a signal corresponding to the detected phonon energy from at least one acoustic transducer to a controller system; analyzing a frequency domain of the signal corresponding to the detected phonon energy at the controller system; comparing the analyzed frequency domain of the signal with the phonon response frequency for the plurality of different substances at the controller system; and identifying a substance when the compared analyzed frequency domain of the signal matches the phonon response frequency for one of the plurality of different substances.

In order to improve B1 non-homogeneity while reducing a local SAR in an object, particularly, in a human tissue during MR imaging, the present invention is characterized in that each of a plurality of irradiation channels is controlled on the basis of RF shimming parameters corresponding to the plurality of irradiation channels, and, in a case of performing imaging sequence of irradiating an object with an RF magnetic field, there is the use of the RF shimming parameters obtained by imposing a constraint condition on at least one of a plurality of principal components obtained through principal component analysis on the RF shimming parameters.

A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system and method for acquiring magnetic resonance (MR) images using a pulse sequence implementing driven equilibrium and quadratic phase cycling techniques is provided. The method includes, during a pulse repetition period of a pulse sequence and using a quadratic phase cycling scheme, applying a first RF pulse to deflect a net magnetization vector associated with the subject from a longitudinal plane into a transverse plane; after applying the first RF pulse, applying a first sequence of RF pulses each of which flips the net magnetization vector by approximately 180 degrees within the transverse plane; and after applying the first sequence of RF pulses, applying a second RF pulse to deflect the net magnetization vector from the transverse plane to the longitudinal plane.

The present disclosure is directed to a device and a magnetic resonance system for concentrating a magnetic field of radio frequency signals, and methods for concentrating a magnetic field of as radio frequency signal in an object to be imaged.

A magnetic resonance tomography unit includes a transmitter, a transmission monitoring device for monitoring an excitation signal from the transmitter, and a plurality of transmit antennas. The magnetic resonance tomography unit also includes a switching device configured to bring the transmission monitoring device selectively into a signal connection to one transmit antenna of the plurality of transmit antennas. A method for operating the magnetic resonance tomography unit is also provided.

An MRI system coil insert 2 for use within a bore B of a main MRI system 1, the coil insert 2 comprising at least one gradient coil, for creating a spatially varying magnetic field along a respective axis and being arranged to be electrically driven at an ultrasonic frequency.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure provide methods and apparatus for closed-loop control of a system using one or more electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) sensors located on-site. With such EPR sensors, a change can be applied to the system, the EPR sensors can measure the effect(s) of the change, and then adjustments can be made in real-time. This feedback process may be repeated continuously to control the system.

A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to an embodiment includes a static magnetic field magnet, a plurality of radio frequency coils, and processing circuitry. The static magnetic field magnet generates a static magnetic field having a magnetic field strength that changes spatially. The plurality of radio frequency coils receive a nuclear magnetic resonance signal generated from a subject by an influence of a radio frequency pulse transmitted to the subject, the subject being placed in the static magnetic field having a magnetic field strength that changes spatially. The processing circuitry controls each of the plurality of radio frequency coils to receive the nuclear magnetic resonance signal at each of a plurality of frequencies tuned according to at least a distribution of the static magnetic field.

The present invention provides an apparatus and a corresponding method useful for electron paramagnetic resonance imaging, in situ and in vivo, using high-isolation transmit/receive (TX/RX) coils, which, in some embodiments, provide microenvironmental images that are representative of particular internal structures in the human body and spatially resolved images of tissue/cell protein signals responding to conditions (such as hypoxia) that show the temporal sequence of certain biological processes, and, in some embodiments, that distinguish malignant tissue from healthy tissue. In some embodiments, the TX/RX coils are in a surface, volume or surface-volume configuration. In some embodiments, the transmit coils are oriented to generate an RF magnetic field in directions substantially orthogonal to a static gradient field, and the receive coils are oriented to sense RF EPR signal in directions substantially orthogonal to the transmitted field and to the static field, to minimize coupling of the transmitted signal to the receive coils.