Improvement method of signal-to-noise ratio for a low field MRI system

This Radio frequency (RF) receiving coil is an important component deciding signal-to-noise radio (SNR) of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems. The SNR can be improved by increasing the main field strength (B₀) or the quality factor (Q) of receiving coil. This paper presents a kind of method of using high temperature superconducting tape as receiving coil to improve the SNR of low field MRI systems. The resonance frequency curve of superconducting receiving coil are tested operating at liquid nitrogen temperature 77K and room temperature 300K, and the experimental results are compared with those of the same size copper receiving coil. The calculating results show that the quality factor Q value of superconducting receiving coil at 77K is about 3-fold of the same size copper coil at 300K. Using superconducting tape to fabricate RF receiving coil may provide much higher Q value than conventional copper coil, accordingly efficiently improve the SNR and imaging quality of MRI systems.