Facilitation of MRI Detection at 3 Tesla by Engineering the Electromagnetic Properties of a Metamaterial Slab Employed as a Receive Array

Previously, metamaterials (MTMs) have been employed in MRI to alter and provide localized enhancement of MRI signal acquired using a traditional detector (coil) [1] . However, adding an MTM resonator to an existing coil or array increases complexity and extends the dimensions occupied. Furthermore, comparisons of set-ups involving metamaterials and coil arrays have not been optimized, and it is believed that MTMs may increase the SNR for a lower channel count. Finally, demonstrations of the use of metamaterials to receive the MR signal have not investigated active decoupling from the transmit system [2] , which can degrade the global transmit homogeneity and increase local specific absorption rate, both of which are unacceptable in clinical imaging.