High-T-C Superconducting Surface Coils For Improving The Image Quality On A 3 T Imager

A surface coil composed of a miniature spiral YBa2Cu3Oy (YBCO) thin film resonator and a Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu2O3 (BSCCO) tape resonator were designed. The spiral YBCO resonator was fabricated onto one side of a 2 x 2 cm(2) LaAlO3 substrate, which was then coupled to the receiver via a tank circuit and a fine-tuning copper coil to image small samples. Additionally, a BSCCO tape resonator of 20 cm in diameter was coupled to a receiver coil and a fine-tuning coil to image large samples. An improvement of the signal-to-noise ratio for high-T-c resonators over a conventional copper resonator is demonstrated.