Development and characterisation of a ceramic HF-resonator for the MR-tomography

Future trends in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) lead to higher magnetic field strengths of the static magnetic fields and as an implication of that to much higher frequencies. Nowadays a common model of a send-receive coil is the birdcage resonator. However it is very difficult to find an optimal L/C-relation for the capacities and inductivities at frequencies above 300 MHz. The idea is to build a completely new send-receive resonator without discrete network elements. The solution presented in this work is the development of a fully ceramic resonator with a high dielectric constant (between 30-100) and a low loss factor (tan delta approximately 10(3)). This approach has shown to produce a stable transversal magnetic field at the desired MR-frequencies above 300 MHz.