Cavity resonator coil for high field magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract

A variant coil of the high frequency cavity resonator coil was experimentally developed according to the theoretical frame proposed by Mansfield in 1990. This coil design is similar to the popular birdcage coil but it has the advantage that it can be easily built following the physical principles of the cavity resonators [1]. The equivalent circuit approach was used to compute the resonant frequency of this coil design, and compared the results with those frequency values obtained with theory. A transceiver coil composed of 4 cavities with a rod length of 4.5 cm, and a resonant frequency of 170.29 MHz was built. Phantom images were then acquired to test its viability using standard imaging sequences. The theory facilitates its development for high frequency MRI applications of animal models.