CPC G01R 33/3415 (2013.01) [G01R 33/34046 (2013.01)] | 19 Claims |
1. An apparatus comprising:
a dipole-array based volume coil, the dipole-array based volume coil comprising a plurality of straight dipole antennas, wherein the straight dipole antennas are substantially parallel with each other, wherein the dipole-array based volume coil has a first axial end and a second axial end;
at least three circular conducting rings, including a first circular conducting ring, a second circular conductive ring, and a third circular conductive ring, wherein the three circular conducting rings radially surround the dipole-array based volume coil,
wherein the first circular conducting ring is located at the first axial end of the dipole-array based volume coil, wherein the second circular conducting ring is located at the second axial end of the dipole-array based volume coil, and
wherein the third circular conducting ring is located between the first circular conducting ring and the second circular conducting ring, surrounding a center of the dipole-array based volume coil,
wherein the first circular conducting ring, the second circular conducting ring, and the third circular conducting ring are substantially parallel with each other,
a cylindrical RF shield, situated about the dipole-array based volume coil and the at least three circular conducting rings;
a plurality of independent transmit/receive (T/R) radio frequency (RF) channels for driving the dipole-array based volume coil and the at least three circular conducting rings, wherein the plurality of independent T/R RF channels includes at least a first T/R RF channel, a second T/R RF channel, and a third T/R RF channel,
wherein at least the first T/R RF channel is assigned to the dipole-array based volume coil,
wherein the second T/R RF channel is assigned to at least one of the first circular conducting ring and the second circular conducting ring, wherein the third circular conducting ring has at least a first port and a second port, and
wherein the third T/R RF channel is assigned to at least one of the first and second ports of the third circular conducting ring for applying a set of quadrature drive signals to the third circular conducting ring.
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