MULTIMODE RESONANT GRADIENT COIL CIRCUIT FOR ULTRA HIGH-SPEED NMR IMAGING

A multi-mode resonant gradient circuit is described for use in ultra high speed imaging techniques like echo-planar and echo-volumar imaging. The circuit behaves overall in a series resonant manner, but at a fixed number of discrete frequencies. By choosing the number of resonant modes, the circuit can be used to generate approximations to a square wave or a trapezoidal waveform. It is shown that trapezoidal waveforms of a given rise time may be described by a more convergent series expansion involving fewer harmonic components. Because the circuit exploits energy conserving principles, much faster current rise times can be achieved with a given driver amplifier and gradient coil than can be achieved by direct coil drive. Expressions are given for the choice of passive circuit components required to accommodate all odd harmonics up to seventh order.