Patent ID: 7141973
Filing Date: 2006-11-28
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
1. A method of effecting magnetic resonance experiments on a sample comprising: operating a magnet to define a magnetic field; locating the sample in the magnetic field; providing a transmit RF coil tx-array and applying an energizing signal to the transmit coil array to excite magnetization within the sample; receiving RF signals from the sample; and analyzing the RF signals received from the sample in received k-space to form a magnetic resonance image based upon an image transform kernel; wherein the magnetization signal is excited or re-focussed by a series of sequential B1 fields; generating each B1 field by an RF pulse applied to the transmit array; each B1 field having a phase which varies spatially according to a predetermined phase distribution with the spatial distribution of each B1 field being different relative to the spatial distribution of the previous B1 field; and selecting the phase distribution of the B1 fields in a selected encoding direction relative to the B0 field in dependence upon the image transform kernel so that the magnetization signal traverses through receive k-space.