Continuous SWIFT

Djaudat Idiyatullin¹, Steven Suddarth², Curt Corum¹, Gregor Adriany¹, Michael Garwood¹

This work describes the first attempt to implement SWIFT (SWeep Imaging with Fourier Transform) in a continuous mode for imaging and spectroscopy. We connected a standard quadrature hybrid with quad coils and acquired NMR signal during continuous radiofrequency excitation. We utilized a chirped radiofrequency to minimize the radiofrequency field for excitation of the spin system for the target flip angle and bandwidth. Due to the complete absence of dead time continuous SWIFT extends the application of MRI and spectroscopy to studying spin systems having extremely fast relaxation or broad chemical shift distribution beyond that of the gapped SWIFT sequence.