Keynote talk — Superconducting magnets for MRI applications

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a major non-invasive medical imaging technique to visualize the internal structure of human body, producing detailed and high-resolution images or other relevance functional parameters for clinical diagnosis. Over the last decades, MR magnet has made substantial progress with the central field up from low field (<; 0.35 T) to 3 T and higher, and it becomes the largest commercial application for superconductivity. A general review of superconducting magnet technology and its applications in MRI is presented. Starting with a brief discussion of MRI basics and the well-understood conventional MR magnet and its design concepts, this review focuses on the advances in non-traditional magnet configurations, including the design of ultra-short and open superconducting magnet as well as the specialty (head and extremity) MRI scanner. The emerging trend of using high temperature superconductor (MgB₂, BSCCO and YBCO) for MRI applications are also discussed.