Shielded gradient coils and radio frequency probes for high-resolution imaging of rat brains

A shielded gradient system and radio frequency probes for a 4.7-T/30-cm horizontal bore magnet are described. The systems were designed principally to obtain images and localized spectra from rat brains. The gradients can operate in either a shielded or non-shielded mode. The rf probe, which combines both highest sensitivity and highest resolution, consists of a large modified saddle type transmitter and a small surface reception coil, actively decoupled using diodes. The system performance is demonstrated on phantoms and on a rat brain, where an image with in plane resolution of 80 microns and a slice thickness of 150 microns is obtained.