Improved signal-to-noise ratio performance in magnetic resonance imaging by using a multilayered surface coil array--a simulation study.

A multilayered surface coil array for magnetic resonance imaging with an improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) performance is introduced and investigated by a simulation study. By using an effective decoupling method, the strong mutual coupling effect between the coil layers can be accurately removed, leading to a coherent combination of the signals of the individual coils. This results in a much stronger received signal power which increases with the number of coil layers in the array. This, together with a smaller rate of increase of noise power with the number of coil layers, leads to a net increase in the SNR of array output with the number of coil layers in the array. Rigorous numerical simulation examples have been carried out to confirm and verify the performance of the new array.

Increasing the signal-to-noise ratio by using vertically stacked phased array coils for low-field magnetic resonance imaging.

A new method is introduced to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in low-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems by using a vertically stacked phased coil array. It is shown theoretically that the SNR is increased with the square root of the number of coils in the array if the array signals are properly combined to remove the mutual coupling effect. Based on this, a number of vertically stacked phased coil arrays have been designed and characterized by a numerical simulation method. The performance of these arrays confirms the significant increase of SNR by increasing the number of coils in the arrays. This provides a simple and efficient method to improve the SNR for low-field MRI systems.