Figure 2.
(a), (b), (c) structures of adjacent elements of the typical 16-strut volume coil and two 16-strut common-mode (CM) volume coils with neighboring distance of 1/2 inch and 1/16 inch; (d), (e), (f) the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) simulation results of three corresponding models at the central transverse plane; (g) 1D profiles of the three magnetic field distribution of the central line. The blue circles in the 2D images denote the area of the 2.4” diameter phantom with permittivity of 58 and conductivity of 0.8 S/m which are close to those of average mouse muscle. The constructive interference of B1+ pattern on the image is clearly observed. The RF field homogeneity of the CM volume coil is similar to or better than that of a conventional volume coil while the leg number of the CM coil is reduce by half, leading to reduced number of resonant modes. The reduced number of resonant modes helps to simplify the coil design and potentially gain coil efficiency.