A METHOD FOR EVALUATING THE MAGNETIC-FIELD HOMOGENEITY OF A RADIOFREQUENCY COIL BY ITS FIELD HISTOGRAM

The magnetic field homogeneity of a radiofrequency coil is very important in both magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy. In this report, a method is proposed for quantitatively evaluating the RF magnetic field homogeneity from its histogram, which is obtained by either experimental measurement or theoretical calculation. The experimental histogram and theoretical histogram can be compared directly to verify the theoretical findings. The RF field homogeneities of the bird-cage coil, slotted-tube resonator, cosine wire coil, and a new radial plate coil design were evaluated using this method. The results showed that the experimental histograms and the corresponding theoretical histograms are consistent. This method provides an easy and sensitive way of evaluating the magnetic field homogeneity and facilitates the design and evaluation of new RF coil configurations. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc.