Electrically symmetric NMR coils with a plurality of windings connected in series

#This application claims Paris Convention priority of DE 10 2005 047 883.2 filed Oct. 6, 2005 the complete disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

#The invention concerns a nuclear magnetic resonance coil probe head comprising at least two coil/resonator configurations A1 and A2, wherein at least one of the coil/resonator configurations A1 has two saddle-shaped coils S1 and S2, wherein each coil has one window which is surrounded by N windings connected in series, wherein N≧2, wherein the coil/resonator configurations A1 and A2 are aligned perpendicularly to each other, and wherein the coil/resonator configurations A1 and A2 have different resonance frequencies.

#A probe head of this type is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,237 and the references cited therein.

#FIG. 1a shows a developed view of a coil configuration for an inventive magnetic resonance probe head, comprising two coils, each having two series windings and one crossing point and feed lines;

#FIG. 1b shows the coil configuration of FIG. 1a, wherein the coils (fully-drawn lines) are shown before being interrupted by the connection of the feed lines (dotted lines);

#FIG. 2 shows a coil for an inventive magnetic resonance probe head with three series windings and two crossing points;

#Saddle coils and Helmholtz coil systems have been used for a long time in nuclear magnetic resonance. A saddle coil is a coil that consists of arc-shaped transverse elements and rod-shaped longitudinal elements. It is structured such that it is placed on a cylinder jacket shaped surface (except for possible crossing points between conductor sections).

#In NMR two or more measuring frequencies are usually used. One possibility to realize a magnetic resonance (MR) probe head for more than one measuring frequency is to use two different coil configurations which are each tuned to one or more resonance frequencies. One thereby distinguishes between resonator and coil configurations. The resonators are generally selected from the group of Birdcage or Alderman-Grant resonators while the coils used are generally saddle coils. Solenoid coils are also used, in particular, in solid NMR and when flow cells are used.

#Special probe heads also use planar coils and resonators. Examples thereof are probe heads for extremely mass-limited samples wherein surface coils (helices, butterfly and meanderline) are used, as well as probe heads whose detection system is cooled to cryogenic temperatures and whose resonators are produced from high-temperature superconducting material.