Neither loop nor dipole – mirrored box antenna as a candidate for pattern reconfigurable transmit and/or receive coil for imaging at (9.4T) UHF MRI

Motivation: To design a reconfigurable antenna as a transmit element for improved efficiency and receive element to minimize g-factor and maximize SNR in accelerated imaging at UHF. Goal(s): To obtain antenna pattern reconfigurability by altering single antenna geometry to achieve spatial diversity of B1 fields. Approach: Electromagnetic simulations were performed to observe spatial diversity in field patterns of single elements in different configurations. Results: Spatial diversity has been achieved by changing the position of the connecting piece. The individual element transmits and SAR efficiencies were similar or better compared to a dipole antenna of the same length. Impact: Proposed antenna design can be used as transcieve element alone or in time interleaved fashion for efficient brain imaging at UHF. Obtained spatial diversity can be employed in receive configuration for SNR enhancement by minimizing the g-factor.