UTE and ZTE on an unmodified clinical whole-body MR system using an RF signal acquisition system operating in parallel achieving an acquisition delay of less then $$$2\,\mathrm{\text{µ}s}$$$

Ultra short echo time and zero echo time imaging on clinical systems are, even on modern systems, still limited by the rather long transient time required for switching from transmit to receive mode. In this contribution a complete receive-only chain was interfaced to an unmodified clinical whole-body MR system. Synchronization is achieved by a single trigger line as temporal reference and a time base signal, thus ensuring minimal interference and phase synchronous operation in parallel to the clinical system. An acquisition delay, between the real end of the excitation pulse and the beginning of signal acquisition, below $$$2\,\mathrm{\text{µ}s}$$$ could be realized.