METHODS FOR SPATIALLY ENCODING MAGNETIC RESONANCE SIGNALS WITH SWEPT RADIO FREQUENCY (RF) PULSES APPLIED WITH RF SPATIAL PHASE GRADIENTS

摘要

Described here are systems and methods for performing magnetic resonance imaging (“MRI”) using radio frequency (“RF”) phase gradients to provide spatial encoding of magnetic resonance signals rather than the conventional magnetic field gradients. Particularly, the systems and methods described here implement swept RF pulses (e.g., wideband, uniform rate, and smooth transition (“WURST”) RF pulses) and a quadratic phase correction to enable RF phase gradient encoding in inhomogeneous background (B₀) magnetic fields.