Mode splitter/combiner for noise figure minimization and control of power in rf coil arrays

Abstract

A magnetic resonance (MR) system (10) minimizes noise for modes of an array of coils (261, 262, . . . , 26n). The system (10) includes an array of coils (261, 262, . . . , 26n) in which the coils of the array (261, 262, . . . 26n) share impedances. A splitter/combiner (30) receives a plurality of signals (S1; S2, . . . , Sn) from each of the coils (261, 262, . . . , 26n) and converts the plurality of signals (S1; S2, . . . , Sn) to a plurality of signals (S1; S2, . . . , Sn) which are compensated for the shared impedance. The splitter/combiner (30) splits the received signals (S1; S2, . . . , Sn) into components and combines components of like frequency and/or phase to create the impedance compensated signals (S1; S2, . . . , Sn). Each impedance compensated signal is amplified by a corresponding preamplifier (381, 382, . . . , 38n).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.