Magnetic field modeling with a set of individual localized coils

A set of generic, circular individual coils is shown to be capable of generating highly complex magnetic field distributions in a flexible fashion. Arbitrarily oriented linear field gradients can be generated in three-dimensional as well as sliced volumes at amplitudes that allow imaging applications. The multi-coil approach permits the simultaneous generation of linear MRI encoding fields and complex shim fields by the same setup, thereby reducing system complexity. The choice of the sensitive volume over which the magnetic fields are optimized remains temporally and spatially variable at all times. The restriction of the field synthesis to experimentally relevant, smaller volumes such as single slices directly translates into improved efficiency, i.e. higher magnetic field amplitudes and/or reduced coil currents. For applications like arterial spin labeling, signal spoiling and diffusion weighting, perfect linearity of the gradient fields is not required and reduced demands on accuracy can also be readily translated into improved efficiency. The first experimental realization was achieved for mouse head MRI with 24 coils that were mounted on the surface of a cylindrical former. Oblique linear field gradients of 20 kHz/cm (47 mT/m) were generated with a maximum current of 1.4A which allowed radial imaging of a mouse head. The potential of the new approach for generating arbitrary magnetic field shapes is demonstrated by synthesizing the more complex, higher order spherical harmonic magnetic field distributions X2-Y2, Z2 and Z2X. The new multi-coil approach provides the framework for the integration of conventional imaging and shim coils into a single multi-coil system in which shape, strength, accuracy and spatial coverage of the magnetic field can be specifically optimized for the application at hand.