Preliminary study of a receive Multi-Loop Coil (MLC) array for 7T brain MRI

Motivation: The use of MLCs has shown the potential to improve the SNR at short distance as compared to an equivalent SLC. Goal(s): Evaluation of the performances of a 8-channels MLC-array for head imaging at 7T. Approach: Electromagnetic simulation was used to evaluate and compare the SNR, noise-covariance matrix and g-maps obtained with the MLC-array and with an equivalent array of SLC. Results: As compared to the SLC-array, the MLC-array achieves an increased SNR in a relatively large peripheral ring and a reduced maximum g-factor. Impact: Array of MLC represents a valuable strategy for array developpement at high field that can be employed to improve the SNR or reduce the number of channels.