Nikolai I Avdievich1, Andreas Pfrommer1, Ioannis Giapitzakis1, and Anke Henning1,2
1High-field Magnetic Resonance, Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 2Institute for Biomedical Engineering, UZH and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
Decoupling of multi-channel ultra-high field (>7T)
transmit and transceiver arrays is a major issue. Analytical modeling of the
coupling can facilitate the array optimization. We developed an analytical
model describing the impedance matrix for two rectangular loops placed on a
cylindrical surface and mimicking the human head array geometry. The developed
model was comprehensively validated and allows for the optimization of the
geometry and positioning of the loops. The latter enabled simultaneous
cancellation of resistive and inductive coupling without additional decoupling
circuits. The resulting overlapped array element arrangement improves both
transmit and receive performance in comparison to conventional gapped arrays.
