Double Tuned 31P/1H Elliptical Transceiver Phased Array for the Human Brain Studies at 7 T

Nikolai I. Avdievich¹, Jullie W. Pan¹, Hoby P. Hetherington¹

The improved SNR at 7T provides significant advantages for both 1H and X nuclei (31P, 13C etc). At 7T, transceiver phased arrays improve B1 homogeneity, transmit efficiency, and peripheral SNR compare to volume coils. Therefore, double tuned transceiver arrays may provide substantial advantages over conventional double tuned volume head coils. However, they are substantially more complicated than single tuned arrays since all coils must be decoupled at both frequencies. We have developed a 16-element (8 elements per frequency) 31P/1H 7T transceiver phased head array. The double tuned transceiver array improved both B1 homogeneity and efficiency in comparison to the TEM.