Design and Testing of a Multi-Channel H-1/He-3 Double-Nuclear Transmit Coil Array for Magnetic Resonance Imaging at an Ultra-Low Field

The application of polarized noble gases in lung functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has garnered attention due its capacity to produce a high-resolution image with no radiation. For image signal acquisition, the transmit coil requires a higher performance whereas the traditional single frequency transmit coil is unsuitable. This paper presents a novel radio frequency (RF) coil for application in a H-1/He-3 MRI system at the ultra-low field of 0.06 T. For the more complex model of a 4-channel double-nuclear H-1/He-3 coil, traditional electromagnetic simulation is not applicable due to its long computing time. The electromagnetic (EM) field and RF circuit co-simulation method were implemented to accelerate the analysis, resulting in an effective evaluation. The co-simulation and test results showed that the proposed model has the potential for imaging of the lung using the H-1/He-3 MRI system at an ultra-low field.