31P/1H WALTZ-4 broadband decoupling at 1.5 T: different versions of the composite pulse and consequences when using a surface coil

Two derivatives of the wideband alternating-phase low-power technique for zero-residual splitting (WALTZ)-4 decoupling sequence for broadband decoupling named WALTZ-4a and WALTZ-4b were compared for their proton decoupling performance in 31P nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy using a Siemens Magnetom SP 1.5 T whole-body imager. Version WALTZ-4a originally implemented by the manufacturer doubles and triples the transmitter amplitude of the 90° pulse to achieve the 180° and 270° flip angle required for one composite pulse R in the WALTZ sequence. WALTZ-4b follows the sequence reported from Shaka et al. and leaves the transmitter amplitude constant but increases the durations of the 180° and 270° pulses. The decoupling performance of WALTZ-4b is superior because it requires less transmitter power and, therefore, it is advantageous in all in vivo studies where a low specific absorption rate is desired. When WALTZ-4 is used in combination with a surface coil for transmission the theoretically required flip angles cannot be achieved in the entire sensitive volume of the coil. The decoupling performance was therefore investigated at lower and higher flip angles. Again, WALTZ-4b is advantageous and provides, in certain ranges that are off-resonant from the decoupling frequency, a good decoupling quality even for flip angles that are only 60% of the theoretically required.