Purpose To provide transmit whole‐brain coverage at 9.4 T using an array with only eight elements and improve the specific absorption rate (SAR) performance, a novel dipole array was developed, constructed, and tested. Methods The array consists of eight optimized bent folded‐end dipole antennas circumscribing a head. Due to the asymmetrical shape of the dipoles (bending and folding) and the presence of an RF shield near the folded portion, the array simultaneously excites two modes: a circular polarized mode of the array itself, and the TE mode (“dielectric resonance”) of the human head. Mode mixing can be controlled by changing the length of the folded portion. Due to this mixing, the new dipole array improves longitudinal coverage as compared with unfolded dipoles. By optimizing the length of the folded portion, we can also minimize the peak local SAR (pSAR) value and decouple adjacent dipole elements. Results The new array improves the SEE (< B1+>/√pSAR) value by about 50%, as compared with the unfolded bent dipole array. It also provides better whole‐brain coverage compared with common single‐row eight‐element dipole arrays, or even to a more complex double‐row 16‐element surface loop array. Conclusion In general, we demonstrate that rather than compensating for the constructive interference effect using additional hardware, we can use the “dielectric resonance” to improve coverage, transmit field homogeneity, and SAR efficiency. Overall, this design approach not only improves the transmit performance in terms of the coverage and SAR, but substantially simplifies the common surface loop array design, making it more robust, and therefore safer.

Purpose To improve the receive (Rx) performance of a human head transceiver (TxRx) array at 9.4T without compromising its transmit (Tx) performance, a novel 16‐element array was developed, constructed, and tested. Methods We designed and constructed a phased array, which consists of 8 TxRx surface loops placed in a single row and circumscribing a head, and 8 Rx‐only short folded dipole antennas. Dipoles were positioned along the central axis of each transceiver loop perpendicular to its surface. We evaluated the effect of Rx dipoles on the Tx efficiency of the array and maximum local specific absorption rate (SAR) as compared to the array of 8 surface loops only. We also compared the new array to a 16‐channel array of the same size consisting of 8 TxRx surface loops and 8 Rx‐only vertical loops in terms of Tx efficiency, SAR, and signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR). Results The new array improves both peripheral (up to 2 times) and central (1.17 times) SNR as compared to the 16‐element array of the same geometry consisting of 8 TxRx surface loops and 8 Rx‐only vertical loops. We demonstrated that an addition of actively detuned Rx‐only dipole elements produces only a small decrease (~7%) of the B1+ transmit field and a small increase (<7%) of the maximum local SAR. Conclusion As a proof of concept, we developed and constructed a prototype of a 9.4T (400 MHz) head array consisting of 8 TxRx surface loops and 8 Rx‐only short optimized folded dipoles. We demonstrated that at ultra‐high field, dipoles outperformed Rx‐only vertical loops in vivo.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The advancement of clinical applications of ultrahigh field (UHF) MRI depends heavily on advances in technology, including the development of new radiofrequency (RF) coil designs. Currently, the number of commercially available 7 T head RF coils is rather limited, implying a need to develop novel RF head coil designs that offer superior transmit and receive performance. RF coils to be used for clinical applications must be robust and reliable. In particular, for transmit arrays, if a transmit channel fails the local specific absorption rate may increase, significantly increasing local tissue heating. Recently, dipole antennas have been proposed and used to design UHF head transmit and receive arrays. The dipole provides a unique simplicity while offering comparable transmit efficiency and signal-to-noise ratio with the conventional loop design. Recently, we developed a novel array design in our laboratory using a folded-end dipole antenna. In this work, we developed, constructed and evaluated an eight-element transceiver bent folded-end dipole array for human head imaging at 7 T. Driven in the quadrature circularly polarized mode, the array demonstrated more than 20% higher transmit efficiency and significantly better whole-brain coverage than that provided by a widely used commercial array. In addition, we evaluated passive dipole antennas for decoupling the proposed array. We demonstrated that in contrast to the common unfolded dipole array, the passive dipoles moved away from the sample not only minimize coupling between the adjacent folded-end active dipoles but also produce practically no destructive interference with the quadrature mode of the array.

Dipole antennas have recently been introduced to the field of MRI and successfully used, mostly as elements of ultra‐high field (UHF, ≥ 7 T) human body arrays. Usage of dipole antennas for UHF human head transmit (Tx) arrays is still under development. Due to the substantially smaller size of the sample, dipoles must be made significantly shorter than in the body array. Additionally, head Tx arrays are commonly placed on the surface of rigid helmets made sufficiently large to accommodate tight‐fit receive arrays. As a result, dipoles are not well loaded and are often poorly decoupled, which compromises Tx efficiency. Commonly, adjacent array elements are decoupled by circuits electrically connected to them. Placement of such circuits between distantly located dipoles is difficult. Alternatively, decoupling is provided by placing passive antennas between adjacent dipole elements. This method only works when these additional components are sufficiently small (compared with the size of active dipoles). Otherwise, RF fields produced by passive elements interfere destructively with the RF field of the array itself, and previously reported designs have used passive dipoles of about the size of array dipoles. In this work, we developed a novel method of decoupling for adjacent dipole antennas, and used this technique while constructing a 9.4 T human head eight‐element transceiver array. Decoupling is provided without any additional circuits by simply folding the dipoles and using an RF shield located close to the folded portion of the dipoles. The array reported in this work demonstrates good decoupling and whole‐brain coverage.