volume | PIER Journals

Abstract

Symmetrically excited meandered microstrip line RF coil elements are widely utilized in multichannel approaches which have been proposed to be integrated in ultra-high field MRI system (i.e., 7T and higher). These elements have demonstrated strong magnetic field in the deep areas in the object under imaging. Designing a radio frequency (RF) coil array that employs these elements without decoupling networks might cause non-optimized driving performance of coil array which in turn result in non-clear image. In this paper, two different methods of decoupling have been studied: port decoupling and array elements decoupling. For port decoupling, the coil elements have been designed at Larmor frequency (297.3 MHz) whereas for array elements decoupling, the coil elements have been designed at higher frequencies but matched at Larmor frequency. Port decoupling does not always mean element decoupling. Conventional decoupling methods, such as single capacitor or inductor, face challenges to realize the coil element decoupling for meandered microstrip arrays. An optimized reactive (T-shaped) network is needed in order to achieve element decoupling which in turn prevents distortion of the EM field. All simulation results have been obtained using the CST time domain solver (CST AG, Darmstadt, Germany).

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Dr. Ashraf Abuelhaija

Dr. Sanaa Salama

Dr. Tarik Baldawi