Patent ID: 8148979

Claim:
A method performed by a magnetic resonance imaging system, the method comprising: preparing a magnetization of species within a sample; selectively modifying, for a select period of time, the prepared magnetization to suppress, at a given time, a component of the modified magnetization corresponding to two or more of the species having long transverse relaxation times, T 2 , and to identify, at the given time, a component of the modified magnetization corresponding to at least one of the species having a short transverse relaxation time, T 2 , wherein each short T 2 is shorter than the select period of time, and the select period of time is shorter than each long T 2 ; exciting, at the given time, the identified component of the modified magnetization corresponding to the at least one short T 2 species; and detecting radio frequency (RF) emissions corresponding to relaxation of the excited magnetization corresponding to the at least one short T 2 species.