Error-tolerant RF litz coils for NMR/MRI.

A new class of NMR RF volume coils is being developed that permits improved tuning range, B(1) homogeneity, tuning stability, and sensitivity compared to birdcages over a wide range of practical conditions, especially for microscopy and wraparound flexible applications. They are denoted litz coils, as their flux transparency and current distribution is obtained from woven foil patterns with insulated crossovers. Contrary to the design criteria of phased arrays, the parallel routes in litz coils use high coupling coefficients to achieve optimal current distribution, which is highly independent of tuning, balancing, and matching adjustments and is compatible with multiple capacitive segmentation. Magnetic filling factors, loaded Q, and inhomogeneity measurements and calculations are presented for a variety of litz coils with frequency-diameter products from 7 to 20 MHz-m and are compared to similar birdcages.

Practical aspects of birdcage coils.

Numerical modeling and experimental results are presented for a variety of birdcages for high-field MRI microscopy. The data include the first published numerical calculations and experimental measurements of magnetic filling factors of birdcages or other MRI coils. Fast, 3D calculations for shielded coils are demonstrated using the Biot-Savart law along with energy minimization. It is shown that the near-field, higher-order inhomogeneity effects remaining after a first-order, asymmetry correction may easily exceed 20% in situations where it is desirable to maximize filling factor. It is also found that an order-of-magnitude improvement in the accuracy of predicted capacitor values may be achieved by using a more detailed circuit model of the birdcage resonator.