Electromagnetics in Magnetic Resonance Imaging]

Jian-Ming Jin
Electromagnetics Laboratory and
Magnetic Resonance Engineering Laboratory
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Urbana, Illinois 61801-2991
Tel: +1 (217) 244-0756
F a : +1 (217) 333-5962
E-mail: j -jin1@uiuc.edu

Keywords: Biomedical magnetic resonance imaging, A

electromagnets, superconducting magnets, coils, gradient coil,
radio-frequency coil, numerical analysis, biological effects of
electromagnetic radiation

1. Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a powerful new imag- 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ,

ing method, which produces cross-sectional tomographic and
three-dimensional images similar to those of x-ray computed
tomography (CT). However, rather than relying on harmful ioniz-
ing radiation, MRI is based on the interaction between RF fields
and certain atomic nuclei in the body, when they are in the pres-
ence of a strong magnetic field. An MRI system is one of the few
complete systems in which the design relies heavily upon a knowl-
edge of electromagnetics. In this article, we give a tutorial on the
electromagnetic analysis and design of three key components of an
MRI system, namely, the magnet, the gradient coil, and the radio-
frequency (RF) coil. We will also discuss the analysis and charac-
terization of the interactions of RF electromagnetic fields with
biological subjects.
2. Introduction
M agnetic resonance imaging, commonly known as MRI, is a
powerful non-invasive imaging technique that has played
and will continue to play an important role in the medical commu-
nity. In clinical practice, it can assist physicians in both diagnosis
and pre-surgical planning, with limited risk to the patient. In labo-
ratory research, it can help neurologists and other biological scien-
tists to discover novel basic anatomical structures and physiologi-
cal principles. Unlike some other imaging techniques, such as x-
ray CT, MRI does not necessitate exposure of the subject to ioniz-
ing radiation and, hence, is considered safe. It also provides more
information than other imaging techniques, since MR signals
depend on several tissue parameters.
Magnetic field strength
Figure 1. The splitting of the energy level caused by the appli-
cation of a static magnetic field.
atomic nuclei, when placed in a static magnetic field, will assume
one of two states: one has a higher energy level, and the other has a
lower energy level. The energy difference between the two states is
linearly proportional to the strength of the applied magnetic field
(Figure.1). In thermal equilibrium, the number of nuclei in the
higher-energy state is slightly less than the number of nuclei in the
lower-energy state. A nucleus in the higher-energy state can fall to
the lower-energy state by emitting a photon, with energy equal to
the energy difference between the two states. A nucleus in the
lower-energy state can jump to the higher-energy state by absorb-
ing a photon, with energy matching the energy difference between
the two states. Therefore, when the nuclei in the applied magnetic
field are irradiated by such photons, some nuclei in the lower-
energy state will absorb the photons and jump to the higher-energy
state. This destroys the thermal equilibrium. Immediately after the
irradiation of photons, the excessive nuclei in the higher-energy
state will retum to the lower-energy state to recover the equilib-
rium, emitting photons. It is well known that photons are actually
electromagnetic fields of a certain frequency, which can be gener-
ated and detected by an RF probe. The angular frequency of the
electromagnetic fields, 0,. , is given by the Larmor equation

MRI belongs to a larger group of techniques that are based on w,=YBo,

the phenomenon of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). The basic
principles of NMR, which describe the interaction of nuclei and
magnetic fields, were discovered in bulk materials by Bloch and
Purcell in 1946. As we know from quantum mechanics, certain
1This article is based, in part, on the authors recent book,
Electromagnetic Analysis and Design in Magnetic Resonance
Imaging (CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1998).
where Bo denotes the strength of the static magnetic field, and y
is known as the gyromagnetic or magnetogyric ratio. For pro-
tons, y/2z=42.58 MHz per Tesla. Since the frequency of the
emitted electromagnetic signals is determined by the energy differ-
ence of the two possible states of the nuclei, and since the decay of
the signals in time depends on the molecular environment of the
nuclei, the NMR signals received by an RF probe can be analyzed
to study the properties of the nuclei and their environment.

I Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40, No. 6, December 1998 1045-9243/98/$10.0001998IEEE 7
 For many years, NMR was primarily used for spectroscopic
analysis, before Lauterbur proposed using it for imaging purposes
[l]. The basic principle of using NMR for imaging is pretty simple.
Since the energy difference between the two states of certain nuclei
in an external field depends on the strength of the external field,
this energy difference at each point in the object to be imaged can
be made different by varying the magnetic field from point to
point. As a result, the energy of the photons, or the frequency of
the electromagnetic fields absorbed or emitted by the nuclei, is also
different from point to point. This simple phenomenon provides a
basic foundation for all NMR imaging, although the actual imaging
method is more complicated. The number of imaging techniques
has blossomed since Lauterburs pioneering work. Technological
developments have also increased the quality of NMR images. For
example, the advent of superconducting magnets has made possi-
ble higher signal-to-noise ratios ( S N R ) and image resolutions than
were possible with resistive or permanent magnets. Modem com-
puters have made possible whole-volume imaging techniques,
which offer increased S N R and decreased image-acquisition times.
The distortions of the image due to unwanted effects, such as
motion, can be controlled using complex RF pulse sequences.
Advances in coil technology have improved image quality, and
made techniques such as surface and microscopic imaging possi-
ble.
From the description given above, it is clear that to imple-
ment MRI, one must have a strong static magnetic field, which can
vary from point to point in a controllable fashion. This is realized
by superimposing three gradient fields on a homogeneous main
field. A gradient field is a field that varies linearly in a prescribed
direction. The three gradient fields are produced by three gradient
coils, and the main homogeneous field is generated by a magnet. In
addition to the static field, one must also have an RF field, which
has to be uniform to generate high-quality images. This RF field is
generated by an RF coil, which is also used to detect the NMR sig-
nal. Figure 2 illustrates a basic MRI system. In the next sections,
we describe the analysis and design of the main magnet, gradient
coils, and RF coils.
3. Main magnet
In all NMR experiments, it is necessary to generate a strong
magnetic field-the Bo field-which is uniform over the volume of
interest. The experimenter always desires as strong a main field as
is economically feasible. A high main-field strength provides better
SNR and better resolution, both in the frequency and the spatial
domain. The only exception to the rule that more is better is
when the main field is so strong that it requires RF radiation of a
frequency high enough to interact undesirably with the subject
under test. This is often a factor in MRI, when the effect of such
radiation on the human subject is of concern. Clinical imaging
systems typically have field strengths no stronger than 1.5 T, but
some functional MRI systems have 4 T main magnets. Research
systems are being developed with even higher field strengths.
The primary requirement for the main magnet is that its field
be uniform. In clinical-imaging applications, homogeneities on the
order of a few parts per million (ppm) over a spherical volume
10 cm in diameter are typical. However, the main magnet rarely
produces a field of sufficient uniformity by itself. For this reason,
shim coils are frequently employed. The shim coils are a set of
coils designed to produce a field, polarized in the same direction as
the main field, of known spatial dependence. In the case of a coil-
type main magnet, such as a resistive or superconducting magnet,
8 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40,No. 6,December 1998
RF SHIELDED ROOM
f I
I
RFCOIL I
I
GRADIENT COILS
MAGNET I1
---
Ill I
GRADIENT RF PULSE DIGITIZER
1
PULSE
COMPUTER
Figure 2. A block diagram of an MFU system.
there will typically be several coaxial shim coils: one with z
dependence (linear), one with z2 dependence (quadratic), and so
on, where z is the axial direction of the coil. In this way, if the
main magnets non-uniformity is known, the shims can be set to
carry gradients that cancel by superposition the inhomogeneous
components of the main field.
Depending upon the application, permanent, resistive, or
superconducting magnets may be used. Permanent magnets offer
the advantages of simplicity and affordability. They also typically
have very weak fringe fields, which makes site planning easier,
since the apparatus does not need to be heavily shielded to avoid
unwanted interactions that might result from a magnetic field
extending outside of the room of the experiment. In MRI applica-
tions using permanent magnets, the subject is placed between the
two poles of the magnet, which itself is usually in a C shape, in
order to minimize fringing fields. It is not easy, however, to shape
the pole faces in order to provide a very uniform magnetic field
over the volume of interest.
Resistive magnets are based on the principle of the
Helmholtz coil pair, to be discussed next. As such, they use cur-
rents in imperfect conductors to produce magnetic fields. This
causes subsequent heat loss in the system, which is often the lim-
iting factor for how strong the field may be. Cooling systems are
often required to control this heat loss. MRI systems using resistive
magnets typically have field strengths from 0.05 to 0.4 T, with the
upper limit primarily due to the difficulty associated with heat dis-
sipation. The lower limit is dominated by a complicated trade-off
among resolution, imaging quality, and acquisition time. In addi-
tion to being weak, resistive magnets are extremely inefficient.
However, they are easy and inexpensive to fabricate and maintain,
and can be t m e d off easily.
 Superconducting magnets are becoming very common in

tz
MRI. Any desired field strength over 0.5 T practically requires the
use of superconducting magnets, despite their high cost and com-
plexity. Usually, the coil windings, made from an alloy such as
niobium-titanium, are cooled to temperatures below 20 Kelvin by
immersion in liquid helium, which has boiling point of 4.2 K. The
consequent loss of liquid helium can be very expensive. In addi-
tion, the magnet may "quench" if it gets too hot, and stop super-
conducting. However, the fields produced by a properly designed
superconducting magnet can be very strong, homogeneous, and
stable.
I
The design of resistive and superconducting magnets is based
on two well-known configurations in electromagnetics. The first

I
one is the so-called Helmholtz pair, which consists of two loops of
the same radius carrying the current in the same direction, as illus- 0 z=o
trated in Figure 3. It can be shown easily that when the distance
between the two loops equals the radius of the loops, the magnetic
field B, is uniform around z = 0 ,through the third power of z:

z=o

where d denotes the distance between the two loops. This can be
done by finding the expression for B, and setting its second
derivative with respect to z to zero (because of symmetry, all the
odd derivatives are zero at z = 0 ) . Naturally, one can achieve a
I
higher degree of homogeneity for B, by using two pairs of loops.
The optimal separations between the loops can be found by setting
both the second and fourth derivatives to zero. If one can allow dif-
ferent current strengths in the two pairs, the sixth derivative can
also be set to zero, to find the optimal current strengths. When this Figure 3. A Helmholtz coil pair.
procedure is extended to the case with N coil-pairs, the required
expression for the derivative of B, is given by

where u, = z , / d m , with 22, being the separation between

the two loops of the nth pair, and PZmand em+,
are the Legendre
polynomials of degree 2m and 2m + 1, respectively. However, for
a large N, this procedure becomes very complicated. In that case,
one can use an optimization algorithm, such as the simulated
annealing (SA) or genetic algorithm (GA), to find the optimal
arrangement of the coils.

Although the design outlined above can give a highly homo-

geneous B, along the z axis, it cannot guarantee the field homoge-
neity off the z axis. This drawback disappears in the second well-
known configuration, mentioned above. This configuration con-
sists of a spherical surface having radius a and carrying a surface
current

where J o is a constant. The magnetic field generated inside the

sphere by this current is

Figure 4. The magnetic flux lines inside and outside a spherical

which is z-directed and, more importantly, is a constant! Therefore, surface.

IEEEAntennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40,No. 6,December 1998 9

 Z 4.1 Longitudinal gradient
I
Figure 5. A Maxwell coil pair.
a 4 -directed surface current with sin 6 variation produces a per-
fectly homogeneous, z-directed magnetic field inside the sphere, as
illustrated in Figure 4. In reality, this perfect field cannot be
achieved, because, first, the continuous surface current must be
approximated by discrete currents, and, second, two openings must
be made at the ends of the sphere for the entry of the patient. The
inhomogeneity introduced by these modifications can be compen-
sated for by shim coils, as discussed above.
4. Gradient coils
In an MRI system, the main magnet and a set of shim coils
produce a very homogeneous static magnetic field along the z
direction: the Bo field. To provide spatial information in MR
images, the magnetic-field strength must be able to vary in a con-
trollable manner. Such a variation is provided by a set of gradient
coils, which produce magnetic fields with a z component that var-
ies linearly along the x,y , and z directions, respectively. The line-
arity of the gradient fields is measured by the constancy of gradi-
ents, defined as
where G, and Gy are called transverse gradients, and G, is called
the longitudinal gradient. For imaging purposes, the ideal gradient
fields are such that all G,, Gy , and G, are constant within the
volume of interest. Also, the gradient must not be dominated by
the unknown, undesired fluctuations in the field produced by the
main magnet. Many clinical imaging systems are capable of pro-
ducing 10mT . m-l gradients, to this end.
10 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40, No. 6,December 1998
A simple and popular z-gradient coil is the so-called Maxwell
pair, which consists of two circular loops having electric c p e n t s
in opposite directions, as shown in Figure 5. It can be shown that
the Maxwell pair produces a magnetic field along its axis of
when the distance between the two loops is chosen to be d = J3 a ,
with a denoting the radius of the loops. This distance is obtained
by finding the expression for B, and setting its third derivative to
zero (because of anti-symmetry, all the even derivatives are zero at
z = 0). The gradient achieved is uniform to 5% within a sphere of
radius 0 . 5 ~ .
Once again, one can use more pairs to obtain a better gradi-
ent. In this case, the procedure involves properly selecting the
positions and current strengths of the pairs, such that the third,
fifth, and other higher-order odd derivatives can be systematically
removed. The required expression for the derivative of B, is given
by [21
where Ndenotes the total number of pairs, un = z,,/d=, with
22, being the separation between the two loops of the nth pair, and
qmiland 4m+2 are the Legendre polynomials of degree 2m+l
and 2m + 2 , respectively. For example, for the case of two coil-
pairs, one can select z, , z 2 , and the ratio 12/11to eliminate the
third, fifth, and seventh derivatives [3]. The resultant magnetic
field is given by
(7)
the gradient of which is uniform to 5% within a sphere of radius
0 . 8 .~
4.2 Transverse gradients
The design of a transverse-gradient coil is, however, far more
complicated than the design of a longitudinal one. A widely used
configuration to produce a transverse gradient is the so-called dou-
ble-saddle or Golay coil [4], sketched in Figure 6. The eight
straight wires parallel to the z axis and the four outer arcs are used
to provide return paths. Since the wires parallel to the z axis do not
produce a z component of magnetic field, they do not affect the
gradient field. The outer arcs are placed far away from the center,
so their fields are negligible compared to those produced by the
t
Figure 6. A Golay transverse-gradientcoil.
inner arcs. A very tedious (yet completely derivable) analysis
shows that when the angle subtended by each arc is 120" and the
position of the arcs is zo = 2 . 5 7 ~or zo = 0.39u, B, becomes
The Target Field Method begins with the specification of a
desired field-the target field-over a cylindrical surface with a
radius c that is less than the radius of the cylindrical surface carry-
ing the current. Let this field be denoted as B,(c,@,z). Substituting
it into Equation (9), and taking the Fourier transform of the resul-
tant equation, one obtains

a y gradient uniform to 5% within a sphere of radius 0.4a. The x

gradient can be obtained simply by rotating the y gradient 90
degrees.
where
The gradient uniformity of the Golay coil is rather poor. A
possible improvement is to employ more arcs, with different arc
lengths and placed at different positions, to eliminate more higher-
order terms in Equation (8) [3].When two sets of Golay coils with
different arc lengths and positions are used, one can eliminate
spherical-harmonic terms with n = 3, 5, 7 and m = 3, 5, 7 . The From Equation (15), one obtains the required current:
gradient so obtained is uniform to 5% within a sphere of radius of
0.6~.

4.3 Target-Field Method

from which the physical current can be found via Equations (12)-
Better gradient coils can be designed by working with dis- (14).
tributed currents, instead of discrete currents, and then approxi-
Although the Target Field Method finds the current to gener-
mating the distributed currents with discrete currents. A well-
ate the desired field specified over a cylindrical surface
known design procedure is called the Target-Field Method, devel-
oped by Tumer [5, 61, which is based on the cylindrical Fourier
transform. The foundation of the method is the expression of the
magnetic field produced by a cylindrical surface current, which can
be shown to be

where a denotes the radius of the cylindrical surface, and

m n

m n

2 , I
Equation (9) contains only j p ) ( k ) ,because j:")(k) is related to

j P ) ( k ) by

which is the Fourier transform of the current-continuitycondition.

If j$"')(k) can be determined, the surface currents can be calcu-
lated from

-0.5 -
1
0 2
A
3 4 5
Axial distance (da)
m m
Figure 8. The current distribution J 4 ( z ) for a longitudinal-
-m m=-m gradient coil.

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40, No. 6, December 1998 11
 1.2, I 4.4 Shielded gradient coils

Some imaging techniques require gradient pulsing, which

requires the gradient coils to be switched on and off quickly. The
Specified duration of these pulses must typically be on the order of 1 to
.........
Realized 10 ms in order to be effective. One of the major problems in the
use of switched gradient coils is the interaction of the rapidly
2B o switched fields with other conducting structures in an MRI system.
The magnetic field produced by a gradient coil induces eddy cur-

'
4o ' 6
-0.6 ~

t
~
rents in other conducting structures, which produce fields opposing
that of the gradient coil. As a result, the gradient homogeneity can
be degraded, and the rise and decay times of the switched field can
be increased. One solution to this problem is to adjust the voltage
4.2t" ' ' I ' ' " " ' ' ' 1 ' " ' I ' 1 ' ' I waveform so as to produce the desired current and thus the field
0 1 2 3 4 5 [7]. However, the eddy currents induced in other structures still
Axial distance ( d a ) exist, and their rise and decay times are determined by the induc-
tances of the structures. The field produced by these currents vary
Figure 9. The specified and realized transverse-gradient field.
in the same manner as the currents and, therefore, they can cause
problems for the imaging resolution and speed.

Another solution is to place a shield between gradient coils

and their surrounding structures, so that the gradient field is
reduced to zero outside the shield. For the shield to be effective, its
thickness must be much greater than the skin depth. Under this
condition, the time dependence of the field produced by the eddy
current in the shield will be the same as that of the gradient coil,
and one needs to be concerned only with the spatial variation of the
gradient field. This technique is often referred to as passive
shielding [81.

An even better solution is to design gradient coils that do not

0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
Axial distance (da)
Figure 10. The current distribution for a transverse-gradient
coil. Only one octant is shown, and the complete set forms a
double-saddle-type arrangement.
( p = c < a ), it can be shown [ 5 ] that the field at other points varies
in a way very similar to the target field B,(c, 4,z) . However, if the
method is implemented directly as described above, it may yield a
solution with rapid current variation, which is difficult to fabricate.
This is due to the fact that the method requires the current to pro-
duce a field which exactly matches the target field. This problem
can be overcome by multiplying Equation (17) by a Gaussian
function, to remove or reduce its high spectral components before
they are Fourier-transformed back into Jz(4,z) and J4(4,z).
produce a magnetic field outside the coils, and thus do not induce
eddy currents in other conducting structures. Such coils must con-
sist of at least two coils of different sizes. The inner coil is often
referred to the primary coil, and the outer coil is called the shield
coil. Basically, the shield coil produces a field that cancels that of
5
the primary coil, outside the shield coil. As a result, the total field
is zero outside the gradient coil. This technique is referred to as
active shielding [9, lo].
To find the required current distribution on the shield coil, we
consider two cylindrical surface currents, one at p = a ,the current
for which is denoted as J; and the other at p = b , the current for
which is denoted as Js . It can be shown that to completely cancel
the field outside the shield, the Fourier transform of J" must be
given by
The Fourier transform of the field inside the primary coil is given
by

Clearly, the method described above can be used not only to

design gradient coils; it can also be used to design magnets and
shim coils. Figures 7 and 8 give an example for the design of a
longitudinal gradient coil. Specifically, the solid line in Figure 7
gives the specified gradient field, and the dashed line is the eventu- Specifying the desired field on the target surface at p = c , we find
ally realized field using the current distribution displayed in Fig- the required current:
ure 8. Figures 9 and 10 show an example of the design of a trans-
verse gradient coil. The specified and realized gradient fields are
given in Figure 9, and the required current distribution is plotted in
Figure 10.

12 IEEE Anteni785 and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40,No. 6,December 1998


Axial distance (da)
Figure l l a . The current distribution on the primary coil for a
shielded transverse gradient coil ( b = 1 . 4 ~ ) Only
. one octant is
shown, and the complete set forms a double-saddle-type
arrangement.
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
Axial distance (da)
Figure l l b . The current distribution on the shield coil for a
shielded transverse gradient coil ( b = 1.4~).Only one octant is
shown and the complete set forms a double-saddle-type
arrangement.
the inverse transform of which gives the current in the primary
coil. The current in the shield coil can be found using Equa-
tion (18).
Note that the design procedure using the Target Field Method
is similar to that described in the preceding section. Figure 11
shows the current distribution on the primary and shield coils of a
shielded longitudinal transverse-gradient coil. Shielded longitudi-
nal-gradient coils can be designed in a similar manner.
4.5 Minimization of inductance and power dissipation
In order to be able to switch the gradient coils on and off
quickly, the gradient coils must have an inductance as small as
possible. By definition, the inductance is given by
IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40, No. 6, December 1998
which can also be expressed as
Therefore, to seek a current distribution that minimizes the induc-
tance and at the same time produces a desired field, we consider
the expression [111
where the A, are called Lagrange multipliers, B p d denotes the
specified field at point n, and B, is the field produced by the cur-
rent, which is calculated using Equation (9).
The minimization of U with respect to j p ) ( k ) yields
which provides a constraint on the current density for the minimi-
zation of inductance. The unknown Lagrange multipliers, A,, , can
be determined by solving a matrix equation, defined by
Coils with a minimum power dissipation can be designed in a
similar manner. The required expression for the dissipated power is
given by
where p denotes the resistivity and t denotes the thickness of the
conductor. This can be expressed in terms of the Fourier-trans-
formed current as
5. RF coils
RF coils, also known as RF resonators and RF probes, are
key components in an MRI system, and serve two purposes. The
first is to generate RF pulses at the Larmor frequency, to excite the
nuclei in the object to be imaged. When a coil is used for this pur-
pose, it is often called an RF transmitter. The second is to pick up
RF signals emitted by the nuclei at the same frequency. When a
coil is used for this purpose, it is called an RF receiver. The mag-
netic field of the RF pulse generated by an RF transmitter is
13
 are most popular, because they can produce a very homogeneous

1 c Bl field over a large volume within the coil [12].

5.1 Equivalent circuit analysis

To understand the basic principle of birdcage coils, consider

an infinitely long cylindrical surface carrying a z-directed surface
current

where Jo i s a constant. The radius of the cylinder is a . This

problem can be solved analytically, and the field inside the cylin-
der i s given by

Figure 12a. An illustration of a high-pass birdcage coil. which is x-directed and, more importantly, is a constant! There-
fore, a z-directed surface current with sin4 variation produces a
uniform, or homogeneous, x-directed magnetic field inside the
cylinder.

The problem then becomes the design of a coil that will pro-
duce the current distribution in Equation (28) when it resonates.
For this, we consider the configuration sketched in Figure 12a,
which is called a high-pass birdcage coil. A simple analysis based
on Kirchhoff s voltage and current laws indicates that this coil has
N resonant modes, where N denotes the number of rungs. The cur-
rent in the ith rung is given by

m , 2 m ( 4 N
-2 sin -sin ~ m = 0,1,2,...,-
N N (30)
m 274-3) N
2sin -cos ~ m = 1,2,..., --1.
N N 2

It is clear that for the two modes having m = 1, the current varies
either as sin4 or cos4. According to the analysis described
Figure 12b. An illustration of a low-pass birdcage coil.

referred to in the MRI literature as the Bl field, and its direction is

perpendicular to the direction of the main magnetic field, the Bo
field. To obtain high-quality MR images, RF coils must satisfy two
basic requirements. First, an RF transmitter coil must be able to
produce a homogeneous B, field in the volume of interest at the
Larmor frequency, so that the nuclei can be excited uniformly.
Second, an RF receiver coil must have a high SNR and, mean-
while, must be able to pick up RF signals with the same gain at any
point in the volume of interest. In view of the well-known reci-
procity of electromagnetic fields, this is to say that if the receiver is
used as a transmitter, it must be able to produce a homogeneous I?,
field in the volume of interest. In many applications, an RF coil is
used both as a transmitter and receiver. In this case, the coil must
have good B1-field homogeneity, and a high SNR, as well.

Because the direction of the B, field is not in the same direc-

tion as the Bo and gradient fields, the design of F G coils is funda-
mentally different than the design of the magnet, shim coils, and
gradient coils. Over the past decade, many different RF coils have
been developed, and these include Helmholtz coils, saddle coils, Figure 13. A contour plot of the Bl field of a 16-leg high-pass
and birdcage coils. Of these coils, the birdcage coils (Figure 12) birdcage coil.

14 /Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40,No. 6, December 1998

above, such a current distribution produces a very uniform trans- (MOM) [I61 for an accurate analysis of RF coils. The method is
verse magnetic field inside the coil. It can be shown that not only based on the electric-field integral equation (EFIE), given by
can the configuration in Figure 12a produce the required current
for a uniform magnetic field, the configuration in Figure 12b can E(r) = -jwA(r) - V@(r), (31)
also produce the same current, when it resonates at the correct
modes. The latter is called a low-pass birdcage coil. Figure 13 in which
gives the contour plot of the Bl field of a 16-rung high-pass
birdcage coil in the axial plane. A(r) = ,uo~I(rf)G(r,rf)dl' +,uojjJ(r')G(r,r')dF, (32)
C S
In addition to being able to produce a very homogeneous B1
field, birdcage coils have two m = 1 modes. The B, fields pro- dI(r')
'

@(r)= L j - G ( r , r f ) d l f + I j j V ' J(r')G(r,rf)dS',(33)

duced by these two modes are orthogonal to each other. As a result, WEO dl' 060 s
when a coil is fed at two points 90 degrees apart with a phase dif-
ference of 90 degrees, it generates a circularly polarized B, field. where C denotes the wires of an RF coil, S denotes the surface of
Such a coil is referred to as quadrature coil. Since in NMR, the the RF shield, and
nuclei are excited by one specific circularly polarized field, the
ability to generate such a field is important. Compared with a coil (34)
that generates a linearly polarized field, which can be decomposed
into two circularly polarized fields rotating in opposite directions, a
quadrature coil can reduce the input power by a factor of two and, The numerical solution of Equation (3 1) is well known in the elec-
when it is used as a receiver, it can increase the SNR by a factcr of tromagnetics community. Figures 14-17 give the results of the
MOMsimulation of a high-pass birdcage coil.
fi [13].
0.7
The simple analysis described above neglects the mutual
inductance, which can result in a substantial error when employed
for the design of a coil. A more accurate method is to include all 0.6
e,
possible mutual inductances. The application of Kirchhoff s volt-
age and current laws then results in a generalized eigenvalue prob- ,fj 0.5
lem, the eigenvalues of which give the resonant frequencies, and '0
b, 0.4
Endring resonance
the eigenvectors of which provide the currents in the coil [14]. For
the m = 1 modes, the currents are still similar to those desired. This E
e

method is known as the equivalent-circuit method, and has been 0.3

employed extensively in the design of RF coils. Tf Dominant mode
+-
'2 0.2
In practical applications, an RF coil is placed inside the mag- !%
net, shim coils, and gradient coils. These coils generally consist of E: 0.1
multiple turns of wires, with an integrated length of up to several
hundred meters. When RF fields, produced by an RF coil, impinge 0
on these coils, numerous interactions occur, which can degrade the 50 100 150 200
performance of the RF coil. For example, the gradient and shim Frequency (MHz)
coils can cause losses to the RF coil, resulting in a low SNR in MR
Figure 14. The magnitude of the input admittance of a high-
images. They can also give rise to spurious resonances, which may
pass birdcage coil.
displace and dampen the desired resonance of the coil. Because of
these, an RF coil is often partially enclosed in an RF shield, to pre-
vent the RF fields from penetrating into the gradient and shim
coils, therefore reducing or eliminating the interactions between
the RF coil and the gradient and shim coils. However, the presence
of an RF shield has a dramatic effect on the resonant frequencies ... .......
i
and field distribution of the RF coil. A simple method to include
Lower ring
these effects in the equivalent-circuit analysis is to use the image
theory [15]. It can be shown that the effect of an RF shield is to
reduce the self and mutual inductances, and to thus increase the
resonant frequencies of the RF coil. It will also decrease the field
homogeneity when the RF coil is imperfect, which is always the
case in practical applications [14].

5.2 Moment-Method analysis

The equivalent-circuit method is an approximate analysis, -0.1

0 60 120 180 240 300 360
which is only applicable to RF coils with a size that is a small Angle (degrees)
fraction of the RF wavelength. For coils that are not small com-
pared to the wavelength, its use would result in a significant error. Figure 15. The currents of the dominant mode in the end-rings
In this case, one can use the well-known Method of Moments of a high-pass birdcage coil.

/E Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40,No. 6,December 1998 15

 The coil is 26 cm long, has a diameter of 26 cm and eight
rungs, and is made of wires of radius 0.2 em. The capacitors have a
value of 2.98 pF. The magnitude of the input admittance is shown El.2
in Figure 14. Five resonant modes are observed, and the dominant 6 1
mode has the second-highest resonant frequency. The currents in c

(i) 0.8
the end rings for the dominant mode are given in Figure 15, from U

which we see that the current distribution is very close to the .E 0.6
P)
cosine function, as predicted in the equivalent-circuit method. The 2 0.4
currents in the rungs are displayed in Figure 16 and, apparently, 0.2
they are very close to the sine function. The B1 fields in the three 0
planes are shown in Figure 17. 0.1
0.1

5.3 Surface coils and phased arrays

Y
X
In the design of transmitireceive RF coils for MRI, one
always faces a dilemma: The coil should be as large as possible in Figure 17a. The Bl field of a high-pass birdcage coil in the xy
order to produce a uniform field. However, by reciprocity, a large plane.
coil would receive all of the RF noise generated by the volume it
illuminates, while the useful MR signal would only come from the
x IO-
slice to be imaged. Thus, the S N R of MR images is reduced sig-
55
nificantly. Traditionally, this dilemma is solved by employing two
separate coils: one for transmitting, which is typically a whole- E 5
body birdcage coil, and the other for receiving, which is typically a
surface coil (a single loop coil), because of its small field of view
-
245

a 4
U
(FOV). A surface coil is particularly useful to obtain images and E35
spectra from tissues close to the surface [17]. m
2 3
25
Surface coils provide a higher S N R than a whole-body coil
2
because of their smaller sensitive region, which decreases the 01
amount of noise that is received from the sample. Unfortunately, 01
the usable FOV is also limited to the size of the sensitive region. In
clinical imaging, it is desirable to have a large FOV, because the
region of interest is often not known prior to the first scan. One z -0.15 -0.1
X
simple solution is to use a large coil, which has a lower S N R , or to
reposition a smaller coil and repeat the study, which is time con- Figure 17b. The B1 field of a high-pass birdcage coil in the xz
suming. Another solution is to use multiple coils or a coil array to plane.
provide a large region of sensitivity. Each coil is connected to an
independent preamplifier and receiver channel. The outputs from
x lo-
the receiver channels are combined in an optimum manner, with a
phase correction dependent on the point in space from which the
signal originated. In this way, one can obtain the high S N R of sur-
face coils and a large FOV usually associated with large coils,

uu
0.04

-0 05
z -0.15 4.1
4-
Y
G
5 elements 1, 6 Figure 17c. The Bl field of a high-pass birdcage coil in the yz
plane.
-0.04
without any penalty in imaging time. Such a coil array is named
-0.08 elements 7, 8
the NMR phased array [18]. Technical issues include how to
eliminate the interactions (mutual coupling) between coils with
overlapping FOVs (by overlapping adjacent coils and connecting
0 5 10 15 20 25
Length (cm) all coils to preamplifiers with a low input impedance), and how to
combine the data from the phased-array elements to yield an image
Figure 16. The currents of the dominant mode in the rungs of a with optimum S N R . The major disadvantage of a phased m a y is
high-pass birdcage coil. the high cost of the additional receiver channels. This is avoided in

16 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40, No. 6,December 1998
 Figure 18. The axial, sagittal, and coronal slices of the head model.

Figure 19. The SAR (W/Kg) distribution at 64 MHz.

Figure 20. The SAR (W/Kg) distribution at 256 MHz.

40

30

20

10

Figure 21. The magnetic field (Nm)distribution at 64 MHz.

40

30

20

10

Figure 22. The magnetic field (Ah)distribution at 256 MHz.

IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40, No. 6,December 1998 17
the design proposed by Wright et al. [19], which uses RF time-
multiplexing to enable the use of multiple array elements with one
receiver channel.
6. FW fields in the human body
As discussed earlier, in MRI, the nuclei are excited by the RF
magnetic field known as the Bl field. For MRI systems that use a
low (less than 0.5 T) static magnetic field, known as the Bo field,
the Larmor frequency and hence the frequency of the B1 field are
very low, and the dimension of a human body is only a small frac-
tion of the wavelength. In such a case, the interaction between the
B1 field and the human body can be neglected, and the Bl field
neity of the problem. More importantly, it yields a sparse, symmet-
rical matrix, which can be stored and solved efficiently. The two-
dimensional FEM that we have implemented can carry out one
simulation involving more than 10,000 unknowns within one min-
ute on a workstation.
The Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method [35, 361 discre-
tizes and solves directly the first-order Maxwells equations in time
domain. The major issue is the truncation of the computational
domain, as in FEM. It is found that the recently developed per-
fectly matched layer [37] (PML) is best suited for this purpose.
The PML can be considered to be a uniaxial anisotropic medium
[381, having permittivity

; ;]
can be evaluated in the absence of the human body. Also, the elec- 0 0
tric field associated with the Bl field is negligible, and so is the
specific energy absorption rate (SAR).

However, because of the limitation of the S N R associated and permeability

with low frequencies, low- Bo -field MRI systems cannot produce a
high-enough S N R for some advanced studies, such as functional
MRI. To enhance the S N R , MRI systems, using a high Bo field,
have been developed. Systems with 1.5 T have been commercially (37)
available for several years, and many research institutions are
developing systems with the Bo field as high as 8 T. However, as
the strength of the Bo field increases, the frequency of the B, field for the layer perpendicular to the z axis. The parameter a is usually
chosen to be
increases linearly. For example, the frequency of the B1 field for
the 4 T system is 171 MHz, for proton imaging. At such a high
frequency, the interaction between the B1 field and the human
body can no longer be neglected. This interaction is caused by
dielectric resonance, since the effective wavelength of the B1 field
is now comparable to, or even smaller than, the dimension of the where so denotes the free-space permittivity, and 0 is the con-
human body. Such a strong interaction not only substantially ductivity, large enough to attenuate the wave. To obtain accurate
degrades the B1-field homogeneity, and thus the imaging quality, electric and magnetic fields at a certain frequency, we have to con-
but also can cause concern about safety. This is because the electric tinue the FDTD calculation until it reaches the steady state. This
process can be sped up by using a tapered sinusoidal excitation,
field associated with the Bl field increases with the inhomogeneity
instead of an excitation with a finite jump.
of the Bl field. Some parts of the body, such as the brain and eyes,
can be sensitive to a change of temperature caused by the increased
The k-Space Method [39] is particularly suited for RF coils
SAR.
without a shield. For the volumetric-dielectric problem, it is based
The electromagnetic interaction with the body, associated on an equation for D(r) ,which can be written as
with MRI, has been studied in the past by a number of researchers.
Early work was based on a simple model, which approximates a
human body with an infinitely long circular cylinder, or a head (39)
with a homogeneous sphere [20-241. The analytical solution for
such a problem showed, indeed, that as the frequency increases, the
interaction between electromagnetic fields and the biological where EeX(r)is the excitation in the absence of the object, and
object becomes stronger. Recognizing the basic limitations of
analytical methods, recent work has been concentrated on numeri-
cal methods. These include the Finite-Element Method (FEM) [25-
A(r) = -555
1
G(r,r)x(r)D(r)dV,
v
291, the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) Method [30, 3 11,
and the k -Space Method [32, 331.
with
The Finite-Element Method (341 discretizes and solves the
second-order vector wave equation, through the minimization of
the functional

Traditionally, one substitutes Equation (40) into Equation (39), to

(35)
subject to the Dirichlet boundary condition on conducting surfaces.
It has a great capability to model the geometry and the inhomoge-
obtain an integro-differential equation for D(r) [40].One del
operator in Equation (39) is transferred onto D(r) using the diver-
gence theorem, and the other del operator is transferred onto the
testing function when Equation (39) is solved using MOM.When a
regular grid is used for discretization, the resultant matrix equation

18 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40, No. 6,December 1998
can be expressed in terms of two convolutions: one for D(r) , and
the other for V*D(r), and these convolutions can be evaluated
efficiently using the fast Fourier transform (FFT). A simpler
method is to keep Equations (39) and (40) separate, and to discre-
tize them individually [41]. This requires A(r) to be discretized as
well. The discretization of Equation (39) results in a sparse matrix,
and the discretization of Equation (40) results in a discrete convo-
lution for D(r) only. The final matrix equation for D(r) is implied
when the discretized A(r) is substituted into the discretized Equa-
tion (39). The numerical implementation of the second method is
much easier than for the first one. When the matrix equation is
solved using the transpose-free quasi-minimal residual (TF-QMR)
algorithm [42], one has to evaluate only six FFTs within each
iteration.
To demonstrate the behavior of RF fields in the object to be
imaged, we give an example of a shielded birdcage coil, loaded
with the human head. For this, we need an electromagnetic model
of the head. This model can be constructed by segmenting MRI
images into voxels in the shape of cubes. Each voxel is then given
a tag that identifies its tissue type. The electromagnetic model used
here is shown in Figure 18 [43]. The tissues are skin, muscle, bone,
brain, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), air (sinuses), lens, humour, and
cartilage. Their material properties are obtained by interpolation
and extrapolation of the data given by Stuchly and Stuchly [44].
The birdcage coil considered has a diameter of 26 cm, a
length of 26 cm, and consists of 16 rungs. The coil is enclosed by a
cylindrical shield, having a diameter of 32 cm and a length of
32 cm. Therefore, the shield is 3 cm away from the coils rungs,
which are about 3.6 cm away from the head. The maximum elec-
tric current in the rungs of the coil is assumed to be 1 A, and the
coil has quadrature excitation. The two frequencies considered are
64 MHz and 256 MHz, corresponding to the frequency of the Bl
field in 1.5 T and 6 T MRI systems, respectively. The numerical
results are given in terms of S A R and Bl field. The S A R is calcu-
lated from the electric field, using
omy. Accurate information about the SAR can be used to assess
more accurately the potential hazards of RF fields to the patient.
7. Concluding remarks
In this paper, we described the electromagnetic analysis and
design of the key components of an MRI system. The importance
of analytical and numerical electromagnetics in the development of
the MRI technology was clearly demonstrated. Although the ana-
lytical methods have usually been regarded in the electromagnetics
community as not being very useful, other than providing bench-
mark solutions for validation purposes, they have played a vital
role in the design of MRI coils. Some of these coils can be used as
perfect examples in a graduate or undergraduate electromagnetics
course, to illustrate the application of classical electromagnetics to
modem technology. In fact, the role of analytical electromagnetics
has been appreciated for a long time in the MRI community, and
more and more people are starting to appreciate the role of numeri-
cal electromagnetics. The latter is mainly due to the need to
develop better gradient and RF coils, and the need to characterize
complex interactions between electromagnetic fields and biological
objects, which arise in the high-frequency MRI systems. (A work-
shop on Computational Electromagnetics in Magnetic Resonance
was recently held in College Station, Texas, by the Intemational
Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, and chaired by S. M.
Wright.)
Although MRI has reached its mature stage within a rather
short time, as a revolutionary imaging modality for medical diag-
nosis, the MRI technology itself continues to evolve. For example,
traditional MRI systems use cylindrical magnet and gradient coils
and, as such, the patient is placed inside the cylinder, known as the

where D denotes the conductivity, and p denotes the density of

the tissue. The total exposure time is assumed to be 4.7 seconds,
and the S A R is averaged over a period of 6 minutes.
IkI magnet and gradient coils

Figures 19 and 20 display the S A R distribution in the axial,

sagittal, and coronal slices. The corresponding Bi field is given in
Figures 21 and 22. As can be seen, at a low frequency such as
64 MHz, the high S A R concentrates in the skin region; however, as
the frequency increases, the SAR penetrates into the deeper region
of the head. It is also observed that at low frequency, the Bl field is
very homogeneous, whereas at high frequency, the BI field exhib-
its a strong inhomogeneity.

Numerical results, such as those given above, can be very

important for the further advancement of MRI technology, espe-
cially for the development of high-field and high-frequency MRI magnet and gradient coils
systems. The accurate Bi field information can be used for MR
spectroscopy quantification, and for designing new imaging
schemes (RF excitation and post-acquisition signal processing) that
compensate for the field inhomogeneity. It can also be useful for a
better understanding of the EM-NMR transduction in human anat- Figure 23. An illustration of an open MRI system.

/E Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40,No. 6 , December 1998 19

bore hole, for imaging. Such a tight and isolated confinement
makes many patients uncomfortable, and even prevents some
patients with disabilities from benefiting from the technology. In
response to this shortcoming, MRI engineers have been developing
open systems, and the first such clinical system appeared several
years ago. In an open MlU system, the magnet is designed such
that the Bo field is vertically directed (see Figure 23). The big gap
between the magnets coilslpoles is used as the space for imaging,
which now is open, so the patient can easily communicate with
other people. The magnet and the z-gradient coil can still be
designed with the methods described in this paper. The design of
transverse gradient coils is, however, different. Most designs are
based on bi-planar configurations. However, the basic design prin-
ciples are still applicable. As we know, given electric currents on
two parallel planes, one can find the magnetic field between the
two planes. The expression of this magnetic field can serve as a
foundation for the design of transverse-gradient coils. The design
of RF coils is also different and challenging, because the B, field
must now be directed horizontally.
The open MRI system not only makes the patient more com-
fortable and permits patients with disabilities to be imaged, it also
allows an easier implementation of interventional MiU. Interven-
tional MRI is a new technology that utilizes MiU to monitor and
guide the process of other medical treatments. For example,
through temperature imagingimapping, MRI can be used to moni-
tor and guide the process of electromagnetic and ultrasound
hyperthermia, or laser-induced interstitial thermotherapy (LITT).
In the case of electromagnetic hyperthermia, electromagnetic
applicators are used to transmit and focus the electromagnetic
energy into a specific region to heat tumor tissues. In such a situa-
tion, the hyperthennia devices will disturb the Bl field of the RF
coil and, hence, the design of RF coils should take into account this
disturbance. Designing such a coil is not a trivial task.
Another area of great interest is to use MRI for the functional
study of the human brain, and such an application is known as
functional MRI (fMRI). The fMRI has gained popularity because
of its non-invasive nature and, more importantly, because of the
high spatial resolution (sub-millimeter) afforded by MRI. Unfortu-
nately, the temporal resolution of MRI is rather poor, partly
because the NMR signal is very weak, and therefore the measure-
ment must be repeated many times so that the averaged NMR sig-
nal has an acceptable SNR. This problem can be lessened by
increasing the Lamor resonant frequency, since the NMR signal
strength is proportional to this frequency. However, as demon-
strated in Section 6, the interaction between the RF field and the
biological object to be imaged becomes strong at high frequencies,
and it is very difficult to generate a homogeneous B, field in such
a case. When this occurs, the computed B, field can allow MRI
scientists to design new imaging methods to compensate for the
B, -field inhomogeneity. Therefore, one can expect that numerical
electromagnetics will play an important role in the further devel-
opment of MRI technology.
For further reading, the reader is referred to [45-511.
Abragam [45] and Slichter [46] discuss the fundamentals of
nuclear magnetic resonance. Brown and Semelka [47] describe the
basic principles and applications of MRI. More-advanced treatment
of MRI is found in the books by Morris [48] and Chen and Hoult
[49]. The two-volume handbook, edited by Partain et al. [50], cov-
ers many topics, including MRI instrumentation. The subject of
electromagnetic analysis and design in MRI is discussed in [5 11.
20 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40,No. 6,DecemDer 199%
8. Acknowledgments
This work was supported in part by the National Science
Foundation under grant NSF ECE 94-57735. Some numerical
results were calculated by my students, Mr. J. Chen and Ms. Z.
Feng. Useful suggestions on this article were made by Mr. M.
Kowalski and Mr. D. S. Weile. The head model was provided by
Dr. P. J. Dimbylow, of the National Radiological Protection Board,
UK.
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21
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Introducing the Feature Article Author
Jian-Ming Jin received the BS and MS degrees in applied
physics from Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, in 1982 and
1984, respectively, and the PhD degree in electrical engineering
from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in 1989.
He joined the faculty of the Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-
Champaign (UIUC) in 1993, after serving as a Senior Scientist at
Otsuka Electronics (USA), Inc., Fort Collins, Colorado. Currently,
he is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineer-
ing and Associate Director of the Center for Computational Elec-
tromagnetics at UIUC. He is also an affiliate member of the Mag-
netic Resonance Engineering Laboratory in the Beckman Institute
of UIUC. He serves as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transac-
tions on Antennas and Propagation and as a member of the Edito-
rial Board of Electromagnetics Journal. His name is listed in the
universitys List of Excellent Teachers. He has published over 70
articles in refereed journals and several book chapters; authored
I lows:
The Finite Element Method in Electromagnetics (New York,
Wiley, 1993) and Electvomagnetic Analysis and Design in Mag-
netic Resonance Imaging (Boca Raton, Florida, CRC Press, 1998);
and co-authored Computation of Special Functions (New York,
Wiley, 1996). His current research interests include computational
electromagnetics, magnetic resonance imaging, gradient and RF
coil design, bioelectromagnetics, scattering and antenna analysis,
22 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine, Vol. 40, No. 6, December 1998
and electromagnetic compatibility. He has published papers on RF
coil analysis, design, and optimization and RF fields in the human
body in MRI, and taught a course on Magnetic Resonance Princi-
ples and Instrumentation.
Dr. Sin is a member of Commission B of USNC/URSI, Tau
Beta Pi, Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society, Inter-
national Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, and a Sen-
ior Member of the IEEE. He served as the Symposium Co-Chair-
man and Technical Program Chairman of the 1997 and 1998 Inter-
national Symposia on Applied Computational Electromagnetics,
respectively. He is a recipient of a 1994 National Science Founda-
tion Young Investigator Award, and a 1995 Office of Naval
Research Young Investigator Award. He also received a 1997
Junior Xerox Research Award from the UIUC College of Engi-
neering. In 1998, he was appointed as the first Henry Magnuski
Scholar in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
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orre
In the article, The Ancient and Modern History of EM Ground-
Wave Propagation, by James R. Wait, which appeared in the
October, 1998, issue of the Magazine (40, 5, pp. 7-24), portions of
two sentences were omitted. The third and fourth full sentences
immediately prior to Equation (49), on p. 11, should read as fol-
Thus, Uf) + D eCJkR/Rcan be identified as the exact geometrical-
optical field, which is usually termed the space wave. On the other
hand, Ui2)can be relabeled U[sw, to indicate that it is the Norton
Surface Wave.
The Magazine regrets the error, and thanks David Hill for pointing
it out.