Performance of large-size superconducting coil in 0.21T MRI system

A high-temperature superconductor (HTS) was used on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) receiver coils to improve image quality because of its intrinsic low electrical resistivity [1], [2]. Typical HTS coils are surface coils made of HTS thin-film wafers. Their applications are severely limited by the field of view (FOV) of the surface coil configuration, and the improvement in image quality by HTS coil is also reduced as the ratio of sample noise to coil noise increases. Therefore, previous HTS coils are usually used to image small in vitro samples, small animals, or peripheral human anatomies [3]-[5]. We used large-size HTS coils (2.5-, 3.5-, and 5.5-in mean diameter) to enhance the FOV and we evaluated their performance through phantom and human MR images. Comparisons were made among HTS surface coils, copper surface coils, and cool copper surface coils in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and sensitivity profile of the images. A theoretical model prediction was also used to compare against the experimental result. We then selected several human body parts, including the wrist, feet, and head, to illustrate the advantage of HTS coil over copper coil when used in human imaging. The results show an SNR gain of 200% for 5.5-in HTS coil versus same size copper coils, while for 2.5- and 3.5-in coils it is 250%. We also address the various factors that affect the performance of large size HTS coils, including the coil-to-sample spacing due to cryogenic probe and the coil-loading effect.