title: Computation of the signal-to-noise ratio of high-frequency magnetic resonance imagers.
abstract: A method of computing the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in high-frequency magnetic resonance (MR) imaging systems is presented. The method uses a numerical solution to Maxwell's equations which can capture all relevant electrodynamic effects at high B0-field strengths. Using this method, the intrinsic SNR of both volume and surface coils loaded with the human head is calculated as a function of frequency. It is shown that although the available SNR from any point scales favorably with frequency, phase inhomogeneity over the volume of the head may pose a challenge to achieving improved SNR with traditional imaging techniques at high B0-field strengths.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 61801-2991, USA.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Kowalski
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D001698:Biomedical Engineering; D001699:Biometry; D006257:Head / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted