Spectral Profile Design for Multiple Repetition Time Balanced SSFP

R. Reeve Ingle¹, Tolga ukur¹, Dwight G. Nishimura¹

A method for optimizing the spectral profile of a given multiple repetition time balanced SSFP (multi-TR bSSFP) sequence is proposed and analyzed via Bloch simulation and phantom imaging. In this method, a linear model of transverse magnetization versus flip angle is constructed by perturbing pairs of flip angles and simulating the resulting change in transverse magnetization. Least-squares analysis is used to compute flip angles that minimize the squared error between the linear model and a desired magnetization profile. The method is demonstrated on a reference multi-TR bSSFP sequence, resulting in a 6 dB improvement in the passband-to-stopband ratio.