Patent ID: 6856134

Claim:
A method of obtaining magnetic resonance images with signal separation for two species comprising the steps of: a) obtaining first magnetic resonance signals from an object having first and second species using a first repetition time and a first echo time, b) obtaining at least second magnetic resonance signals from the object using a second echo time, in a second sequence wherein tip angle, α, for each magnetic resonance sequence is given by: α = cos - 1 ⁡ ( e - TR T 1 - e - TR T 2 1 - e - TR T 1 ⁢ e - TR T 2 ) where T1, T2 are relaxation times of material in the object and TR is the sequence repetition time, and c) combining the magnetic resonance signals from steps a) and b) to obtain a first species signal and a second species signal which match said magnetic resonance signals in a least squares sense.