Patent ID: 7482805

Claim:
A method to determine a flip angle distribution for each of a plurality of different antenna transmission configurations in a specified volume in a subject in a magnetic resonance (MR) system having a radio-frequency antenna with a plurality of resonator elements that can be activated individually or in groups in said plurality of different transmission configurations to generate a corresponding plurality of different, linearly-independent radio-frequency field distributions in an examination volume in which said subject is disposed, said method comprising the steps of: implementing a plurality of MR data acquisitions with a plurality of pulse sequences respectively using different ones of said plurality of different transmission configurations to emit respective radio-frequency signals that produce a flip angle in the specified volume, resulting in spatially-dependent MR signals from said specified volume, and receiving said MR signals with identical reception antenna configurations in each of said plurality of MR data acquisitions; selecting said plurality of pulse sequences so that, for each of said plurality of pulse sequences, a total function, which describes a dependency of the MR signal achieved at a specified location in said specified volume on the flip angle and on further MR-relevant parameters, can be factored into a first sub-function, that is known, which describes said dependency of the MR signal on the flip angle, and a second sub-function that describes said dependency on said further MR-relevant parameters; measuring an absolute flip angle distribution in said specified volume in said subject using one of said plurality of different transmission configurations as a reference configuration; and for each other transmission configuration in said plurality of different transmission configurations, determining a flip angle distribution produced thereby from said absolute flip angle distribution of said reference configuration and from a ratio of said spatially-dependent MR signals acquired in the respective MR data acquisition to correspondingly spatially-dependent MR signals acquired in said measurement using said reference configuration.