Patent ID: 8723518
Filing Date: 2014-05-13
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
1. A method, comprising: controlling a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) apparatus to apply radio frequency (RF) energy to a volume in an object in a series of variable sequence blocks, where a sequence block includes one or more excitation phases, one or more readout phases, and one or more waiting phases, controlling the NMR apparatus to acquire the simultaneously produced individual NMR signals; controlling the NMR apparatus to compare the acquired NMR signals to one or more known signal evolutions, and controlling the NMR apparatus to characterize at least one of the resonant species as a function of comparing the acquired NMR signals to the one or more known signal evolutions, where characterizing the resonant species comprises identifying one or more of, T1 relaxation associated with the resonant species, T2 relaxation associated with the resonant species, off-resonance relaxation associated with the resonant species, and diffusion weighted relaxation associated with the resonant species, where the known signal evolutions include a signal selected from a set of signals described by: where: SE is a signal evolution, N N α is a flip angle, Φ is a phase angle, Ri(α) is a rotation due to off resonance, R R(G) is a rotation due to a gradient, T1 is spin-lattice relaxation, T2 is spin-spin relaxation, D is diffusion relaxation, and E