MR Spin Behavior During RF Pulses: T2 Vs. T2' Relaxation

Michael Carl¹, Nikolaus Szeverenyi², Mark Bydder², Eric Han¹, Graeme Bydder²

We investigated the behavior of the MR magnetization vector during RF pulses in the presence of rapid transverse relaxation caused by either amplitude loss or spin dephasing. We found that different tissues with the same T2* may generate different responses to RF pulses, dependent on whether the relaxation is dominated by a homogeneously or inhomogeneously broadened linewidth and RF optimization may hence require explicit knowledge of the intrinsic T2 and T2* of the tissue.