Joule-thomson micro-refrigerator-cooled radio-frequency coils as detectors for imaging systems

摘要

The present invention includes a method, system and apparatus for imaging of a sample using a cyro-cooled probe (10, 30). The probe comprises a Joule-Thomson 'J-T' refrigerator (16) in thermal contact with a radio frequency 'RF' coil for cooling RF coil (11). The vacuum dewar (37) is also included in the probe and surrounds the J-T refrigerator and RF coil such that a vacuum space resides between the J-T refrigerator and the walls of the vacuum dewar, insulating the sample in order to maintain the sample initial temperature.