The design of practical selective pulses for magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy using SPINCALC

Recently, we introduced a new numerical approach to the design and optimization of NMR selective pulses, which we have christened "SPINCALC" (J. T. Ngo and P. G. Morris, Biochem. Soc. Trans. 14, 1271 (1986); J. T. Ngo and P. G. Morris, Magn. Reson. Med. 5, 217 (1987]. The first practical application of pulses generated by SPINCALC is demonstrated on a standard 0.5-T clinical MRI system. Results are shown for single phase pi pulses suitable both for selective inversion and for selective refocusing. The extension of SPINCALC to multidimensional pulses is illustrated by the design of a two-dimensional pi pulse.