Development of Microdomain RF Coils for NMR Microscopy

该项目的目标是开发新的微型射频线圈，将核磁共振显微镜的应用扩展到比以前研究的更小的视野。我们建议开发直径小至10微米的新线圈，这将比目前使用的线圈小两个数量级。在这些维度上，用来描述线圈和样品之间相互作用的传统电路模型是不充分的。因此，我们建议对线圈的性能进行更完整的理论分析和实验验证。该评估将包括1)新线圈配置的设计和制造，2)线圈参数(电阻、电感、品质因数)的电气特性，以及3)300 MHz下线圈性能(信噪比、图像分辨率)的验证。这项研究的结果将是新的微域线圈，具有更高的灵敏度，适用于较小的成像体积，并改善信噪比。

The goal of this project is the development of new miniature radio frequency coils that will extend the application of NMR microscopy to smaller fields of view than have previously been studied. We propose to develop new coils with diameters as small as 10 um, which would be two orders of magnitude smaller than those presently used. At these dimensions, traditional circuit models used to characterize the interaction between the coil and the sample are inadequate. Therefore, we propose to conduct a more complete theoretical analysis and experimental validation of coil performance. This evaluation will include 1) design and fabrication of new coil configurations, 2) electrical characterization of coil parameters (resistance, inductance, quality factor), and 3) verification of coil performance (signal- to-noise, image resolution) at 300 MHz. The results of this study will be new microdomain coils with enhanced sensitivity for small imaging volumes and improved signal-to-noise.