title: An eight-channel transmit/receive array of TE01 mode high permittivity ceramic resonators for human imaging at 7T.
abstract: This study describes the design, construction and operation of a new type of transmit/receive array using ceramic resonators operating in a transverse electromagnetic (TE) mode. Single element function and performance at 298.1MHz (7T) are analyzed and compared to a lumped element design loop coil with comparable geometry. The results show that ceramic resonators working in the TE01δ mode configuration produce similar efficiency, defined as the transmit magnetic field (B1(+)) per square root of the specific absorption rate (SAR), to conventional surface coils. An array consisting of eight ceramic elements was then designed to operate in transmit/receive mode. This array was driven via power/phase splitters by two independent transmit channels and functional cardiac images were produced from a number of healthy volunteers.
authors.affiliation: C.J. Gorter Center for High Field MRI, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Aussenhofer
authors.affiliation: C.J. Gorter Center for High Field MRI, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address: a.webb@lumc.nl.
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Webb
mesh_terms: D002516:Ceramics; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000295:instrumentation*; D060526:Magnetic Fields; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008280:Magnetics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D055617:Micro-Electrical-Mechanical Systems / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014159:Transducers
keywords: Cardiac imaging; Dielectric resonators; High field imaging; RF coils; Transverse electromagnetic modes