Multimodal surface coils for low-field MR imaging

Motivation: By the need to address the limitations of low-field MRI, such as low SNR and insensitive frequency tuning. Goal(s): We proposed a design of multimodal surface coil that can enhance the B1 efficiency while reducing the associated electric field. Approach: Through both electromagnetic simulation and bench testing, the performance of this novel coil design technique was evaluated and compared with the conventional surface coil and solenoid coil. Results: The results affirmed the superior performance of the proposed multimodal surface coil design in terms of B1 efficiency and frequency tuning over the surface coil and solenoid coil at the low field of 0.5T. Impact: The proposed multimodal surface coil design improves B1 efficiency compared with the conventional surface coil and solenoid coil at 0.5T. It also mitigates frequency tuning challenges and has the potential to enhance the quality of low-field MRI in clinical diagnosis.