Calcium titanate based ceramic resonators for high field magnetic resonance

Introduction: At high magnetic fields radiation losses, wavelength effects, self-resonance and decreased Q of typical components all contribute to increased losses in conventional RF coil designs. High permittivity ceramic dielectric resonators create strong uniform magnetic fields in a compact structure at high frequencies, are extensively used in radiocommunications applications, and can potentially solve some of the challenges of high field coil design. Previously, we have shown that a specialized high permittivity barium strontium titanate ceramic can achieve excellent MR sensitivity [1]. In this study we improve upon this design by using a much more widely available high permittivity ceramic, calcium titanate (CaTiO3), which is easily machined into the optimal geometry. By drilling a hole through the centre of the resonator the actual field distribution of the resonator is used more efficiently and larger samples can be investigated.