Abstract #2574

Chen G, Muftuler L, Nalcioglu O

An optimized RF coil array was designed and built for 2D SENSE encoding in 3D Fourier MRI with a modified "TArget field"" method. In this method, the RF coils were modeled by the locations of the metal strip vertices that make up the RF coil. The coil array was designed to achieve maximized average SNR in 80% of the inner volume. Experiments showed enhanced SNR and uniformity in 2D SENSE encoding compared with standard coil designs. A different design that was optimized to achieve more uniform SNR and higher SNR in the center 60% of the volume was also presented.