Dual-Band Transceiver High Impedance Coil Array for Ultra-high Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging

A novel approach for designing an element of an arrayed radio frequency coil for ultrahigh field magnetic resonance imaging (UHF MRI) is presented. The purpose of this approach is to achieve the dual-band transceiver regime in a compact array of magnetic antennas. Our work qualitatively develops the concept of the so-called high-impedance coil (HIC), combined with the adequate interfacing circuitry, which offers the decoupling of the HICs in the array due to the very high self-impedance compared to the mutual impedance. This concept has not been previously thought applicable to dual-band transceiver arrays. We show that, by slightly modifying only the cable shield, we achieve a dual-band transceiver high-impedance coil (dual-band TRHIC). The needed modification implies two asymmetric gaps granting two useful eigenmodes to the cable loop. The resonant excitation of these modes will allow the magnetic resonant scanning of both hydrogen and Phosphorus in the 7 T dc magnetic field. To verify our ideas, we simulated and measured a single TRHIC in both transmitting and receiving regimes and similarly studied two linear arrays made of two and three proposed TRHICs. The method of asymmetric gaps, in our opinion, allows one to engineer the targeted multifrequency operation of arrayed TRHICs decoupled at these frequencies.