Techniques for operating magnetic resonance imagers to crush returns from unwanted coherence pathways

A non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the steps of:

• receive first data that indicates a sequence of n radio frequency (RF) pulses with one or more target coherence pathways of spin states for making a magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) measurement using a MRS device of a subject that has at least N≥1 coupled spin states of interest;
• determine a negative non-integer amplitude for at least one intervening crusher pulse emitted from at least one spatial gradient magnetic coil, wherein
• the at least one intervening crusher pulse has a duration less than a time between successive pulses of the sequence of n RF pulses, and
• the intervening crusher pulse de-phases unwanted coherence pathways;
• and
• operate the magnetic resonance device using the at least one intervening crusher pulse and the sequence of n RF pulses.

A system comprising:

• a magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) device,
• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one memory including one or more sequences of instructions,
• the at least one memory and the one or more sequences of instructions configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the system to perform at least the following,
• receive first data that indicates a sequence of n radio frequency (RF) pulses with one or more target coherence pathways of spin states for making a magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) measurement using a MRS device of a subject that has at least N≥1 coupled spin states of interest;
• determine a negative non-integer amplitude for at least one intervening crusher pulse emitted from at least one spatial gradient magnetic coil, wherein
• the at least one intervening crusher pulse has a duration less than a time between successive pulses of the sequence of n RF pulses, and
• the intervening crusher pulse de-phases unwanted coherence pathways;
• and
• operate the magnetic resonance device using the at least one intervening crusher pulse and the sequence of n RF pulses.