Magnetic resonance imaging with a multi-tunable metamaterial-inspired radiofrequency coil

We present the initial experimental results obtained using a two-part receive/transmit (Rx/Tx) radiofrequency (RF) coil design for small animals magnetic resonance imaging at 7 T. The assembly uses a butterfly-type coil tuned to 300 MHz for scanning the ¹H nuclei and a non-resonant antenna with a metamaterial-inspired resonator tunable over wide frequency range for X-nuclei. ¹H, ³¹P, ²³Na and ¹³C are selected as test nuclei in this work. Coil simulations show the two parts of the RF-assembly to be efficiently operating at the required frequencies. Simulations and phantom imaging show sufficiently homogeneous transverse transmit RF fields and tuning capabilities for the pilot heteronuclear experiments.