David Otto Brunner1, Lukas Furrer2, Markus Weiger1, Werner Baumberger2, Thomas Schmid1, Jonas Reber1, Benjamin Emanuel Dietrich1, Bertram Jakob Wilm1,3, Romain Froidevaux1, and Klaas Paul Pruessmann1
1Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland, 2ZSN Center for Signal Processing and Communications, University of Applied Sciences Winterthur, Winterthur, Switzerland, 3Skope Magnetic Resonance Technologies, Zurich, Switzerland
Dead-times after the
excitation pulse of the order of 1 µs are required for imaging approaches for
short T2 compounds such as UTE, ZTE or SWIFT. Here we present a multi-channel
T/R interface box employing symmetrically biased T/R switches which, in
conjunction with a novel diode driver, provide signal rise times of
350 ns. The unit further comprises fiber-optic triggering, biasing, and
malfunction detection. Its performance is demonstrated by low artefact ZTE
scans with 500 kHz at 7T.
