Design of a High Impedance Preamplifier for Coil Arrays

by Kauffman, John Gabriel.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive procedure used in the medical community as a powerful way of creating images of the human anatomy. MRI is preferred over other examination techniques such as X-ray computed tomography (CT) because of its excellent soft tissue discrimination as well as the absence of ionizing radiation. Currently most clinical MRI systems use the single radio frequency coil imaging. However over past several years research has increasingly focused on the concept of using arrays of mutually decoupled surface coils. These surface coil arrays can simultaneously acquire multiple images, resulting in an increase in the field of view. This thesis pursues the design and construction of a high impedance preamplifier with the goal of investigating the decoupling of a surface coil array in a 4.7T magnetic resonance system. i