Transmission of travelling-wave with a simple waveguide for rodents MRI at 9.4 T

Standard coils can cause inhomogeneities due to the standing wave patterns at ultra high field MRI. This B1 inhomogeneity can be overcome using the travelling-wave MRI (twMRI) approach. The ma- jority of twMRI research has been done with clinical MRI scanners at 7T or above. More recently, this concept has been also used with animal MRI systems, using circular-cross section waveguides and dielectric materials for both type of scanners. We have demonstrated that twMRI can be used at 3 T with clinical systems and a parallel-plate waveguide. Here, we investigated the use of a parallel- plate waveguide and a RF circular coil to generate rat images with an animal MRI at 9.4 T.