title: Efficient high-resolution RF pulse design applied to simultaneous multi-slice excitation.
abstract: RF pulse design via optimal control is typically based on gradient and quasi-Newton approaches and therefore suffers from slow convergence. We present a flexible and highly efficient method that uses exact second-order information within a globally convergent trust-region CG-Newton method to yield an improved convergence rate. The approach is applied to the design of RF pulses for single- and simultaneous multi-slice (SMS) excitation and validated using phantom and in vivo experiments on a 3T scanner using a modified gradient echo sequence.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Stremayrgasse 16, 8010 Graz, Austria; BioTechMed Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria. Electronic address: christoph.aigner@tugraz.at.
authors.forename: Christoph Stefan
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Aigner
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Mathematics, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45117 Essen, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Clason
authors.affiliation: Institute for Mathematics and Scientific Computing, University of Graz, Heinrichstrasse 36, 8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Armin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rund
authors.affiliation: Institute of Medical Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Stremayrgasse 16, 8010 Graz, Austria; BioTechMed Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stollberger
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D017352:Echo-Planar Imaging / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D011846:Radio Waves; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012984:Software
keywords: Optimal control; Pulse design; Second-order methods; Simultaneous multi-slice excitation