Studies on MR Reception Efficiency and SNR of Non-resonance RF Method (NORM)

INTRODUCTION: Non-resonance method (NORM) for MR signal excitation and reception has been advocated due to its unmatched advantages in multinuclear and parallel imaging applications (1). In this work, we established a simulation model and systematically investigated the reception efficiency and SNR of the NORM technology using numerical analysis and in vivo MR imaging. The results were validated with the conventional resonant coil method. For comparison, human leg images at 7T were acquired and presented. METHOD: Although the non-resonance circuitry can be realized in different ways, in this study, we used microstrip to implement the non-resonance method. The connection setup for non-resonance method in MR experiment is shown in Fig 1. To evaluate the reception efficiency using numerical method, a model for non-resonant and resonant coils was established as shown in Fig 2. The radiation source was used to mimic excited bulk spin.