• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.95-102
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• 2007

Purpose: To acquire high-resolution spiral-scan images at higher magnetic field, high homogeneous magnetic field is needed. Field inhomogeneity mapping and in-vivo shimming are important for rapid imaging such as spiral-scan imaging. The rapid scanning sequences are very susceptible to inhomogeneity. In this paper, we proposed a higher-order shimming method to obtain homogeneous magnetic field. Materials and Methods: To reduce measurement time for field inhomogeneity mapping, simultaneous axial/ sagittal, and coronal acquisitions are done using multi-slice based Fast Spin echo sequence. Acquired field inhomogeneity map is analyzed using the spherical harmonic functions, and shim currents are obtained by the multiplication of the pseudo-inverse of the field pattern with the inhomogeneity map. Results: Since the field inhomogeneity is increasing in proportion to the magnetic field, higher order shimming to reduce the inhomogeneity becomes more important in high field imaging. The shimming technique in which axial, sagittal, and coronal section inhomogeneity maps are obtained in one scan is developed, and the shimming method based on the analysis of spherical harmonics of the imhomogenity map is applied. The proposed technique is applicable to a localized shimming as well. High resolution spiral-scan imaging was successfully obtained with the proposed higher order shimming. Conclusion: Proposed pulse sequence for rapid measurement of inhomogeneity map and higher order shimming based on the inhomogeneity map work very well at 3 Tesla MRI system. With the proposed higher order shimming and localized higher order shimming techniques, high resolution spiral-scan images are successfully obtained at 3 T MRI system.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Applied Superconductivity and Cryogenics Conference
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• 2001.02a
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• pp.178-181
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• 2001

Two methods can be used to correct the undesirable magnetic field of MRI. One is active shimming method and the other is ferro-magnetic shimming. Ferro-magnetic shimming method is more inexpensive, more convenient in operation and more effective on correcting magnetic field. So, nowadays, it is the general method for shimming the commercialized MRI magnet. We have developed a 1.5T MRI magnet and its ferromagnetic shimming system. Using the ferro-magnetic shimming system, we have improved the field homogeneity of the 1.5T MRI magnet.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.59 no.6
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• pp.1059-1063
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• 2010

Shimming is an important technique in development of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) magnets where image resolution is highly dependent on magnetic field homogeneity. Classically, shimming may be categorized into two types: 1) active shimming that incorporates with extra coils and precise tuning of their currents; and 2)passive shimming that incorporates with pieces of steel placed in a bore of a main magnet and their uniform magnetization under homogeneous external fields. Additional magnetic fields, produced by the coils and/or the steel sheets, compensate original magnetic field from the main magnet in such a way that the total field becomes more homogeneous. In this paper, we developed a passive shimming method based on linear programming optimization. Linear programming is well known to be highly efficient to find a global minimum in various linear problems. We firstly confirmed the linearity of magnetization of ferromagnetic pieces under a presence of external magnetic fields. Then, we adopted the linear programming to find optimized allocation of the steel pieces in the inner bore of a main magnet to improve field homogeneity.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.267-271
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• 2008

The RF shimming technique has been used to improve the transmit RF field homogeneity in highfield MRI. In the RF shimming technique, the amplitude and phase of the driving currents in each coil element are optimized to get homogenous flip angle or uniform image intensity. The inductive and capacitive coupling between the coil elements may degrade the RF field homogeneity if not taken into account in the optimization procedure. In this paper, we have analyzed the coupling effects on the RF shimming using a sixteen-element TEM RF coil model operating at 300 MHz. We have found that the coupling effects on the RF shimming can be reduced by putting high dielectric material between the active rung and the shield.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.29-33
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• 2018

Although high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets have the potential merit of producing ultra-high field (>25 T), they have been not easy to apply to Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) because of the difficulty of field homogeneity improvement. This paper presents a design technique of passive shimming for HTS magnets. Ferromagnetic shimming design code was developed though MALAB, which includes the optimization algorithm. The proper shim element size was determined by a simulation. This design technique was verified by a case study design of a 3-T HTS magnet. We succeed to improve field homogeneity of the magnet from 634 ppm to 6.39 ppm at 10-mm diameter sphere volume. Feasibility of passive shimming for all-HTS NMR magnet was confirmed by this result.

• Proceedings of the Korea Institute of Applied Superconductivity and Cryogenics Conference
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• 2000.02a
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• pp.143-146
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• 2000

Generally, two methods can be used to correct the undesirable magnetic field of MRI. One is active shimming method and the other is passive shimming. Passive shimming method uses many magnetized shims to correct the field. And it involves hardwared for supporting shim trays and a software to calculate a field map and optimaze the locations of the shims[1]. The software is the most important part of the passive shimming system. We made a prototype of the software and tested it in a virtual situation.

• Progress in Superconductivity and Cryogenics
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.14-19
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• 2012

Shimming, active and/or passive, is indispensable for most MR (magnetic resonance) magnets where homogeneous magnetic fields are required within target spaces. Generally, shimming consists of two steps, field mapping and correcting of fields, and they are recursively repeated until the target field homogeneity is reached. Thus, accuracy of the field mapping is crucial for fast and efficient shimming of MR magnets. For an accurate shimming, a "magnetic" center, which is a mathematical origin for harmonic analysis, must be carefully defined, Although the magnetic center is in general identical to the physical center of a magnet, it is not rare that both centers are different particularly in HTS (high temperature superconducting) magnets of which harmonic field errors, especially high orders, are significantly dependent on a location of the magnetic center. This paper presents a new algorithm, based on a field mapping theory with harmonic analysis, to define the best magnetic center of an MR magnet in terms of minimization of pre-shimming field errors. And the proposed algorithm is tested with simulation under gaussian noise environment.

• Proceedings of the KSMRM Conference
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.152-152
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• 2001

Purpose： The most common instrumental approach to automatic shimming has been based on iterativ. optimization routine(e.g., simplex) to adjust shim settings to maximize the envelope of the FID. Disadvantage of iterative method, however, is very long to compute shim values. Thi paper supposes a non-iterative method that uses 2-D field map to adjust shim settin rapidly.

• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 1999.07g
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• pp.2885-2887
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• 1999

초고속 영상 기법의 Echo Planar Imaging과 Spiral Scan Imaging 기법은 자기장의 inhomogeneity에 영향을 많이 받게 된다. 본 논문에서는 자기장의 inhomogeneity를 보정하는 기능인 shimming 기능을 자동으로 실행할 수 있는 알고리즘을 구현하였다. 자기장의 inhomogeneity를 보정하기 위해서 자기장에 생성될 수 있는 spherical harmonic function중 1차에 대해 보정을 시도하였고, 기존의 알고리즘보다 뛰어난 결과를 얻을 수 있었다.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.140-148
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• 1999

Using 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), we quantitatively evaluated correlation representing linear relationship between the metabolite peak area ratios associated with poor shimming conditions. The inadequate shimming due to linear shim offsets directly affected overall MR spectral quality as well as peak area for each metabolite. Three major peaks such as N-acetylaspartate (NAA), creatine (Cr,) choline (Cho) were used as a reference for data analysis. Despite considerable variations of metabolite peak area, a significant correlation between the metabolite peak area ratios relative to Cr was established while the correlation between the peak area ratios relative to Cho and NAA was not. The present study suggested that metabolite peak area ratios based on the metabolite of Cr could be an acceptable quantification method even under the poor shimming in clinical MRS examination.