Contact: Stefan Benders
While MRI is a very powerful technique in medicine and engineering, the field of low-field NMR and MRI is relatively young. Advancements in permanent magnet technology as well as in miniaturization of electronics have made it possible to construct relatively cheap and small magnets. These systems are typically used for NMR relaxometry, but when shimmed and equipped with a gradient system can provide imaging capabilities.
The system status
The system is situated in the IPI. The spectrometer is able to pulse and receive -albeit with bad signal-to-noise-. The gradient amplifier is not working and therefore the available gradient/shim coils cannot be driven. A python web GUI has been written and is able to control the spectrometer.
Your tasks
- Familiarize yourself with the system, including the Red Pitaya python interface
- Optimize the signal-to-noise ratio of the system by improving the shielding
- Optimize temperature stability of the magnet (several options)
- (with the electronic workshop) Test and integrate the gradient amplifier into the system
- Implement gradient and shim control into the python interface
- Write imaging sequences to measure quantities like density and flow
Beneficial:
- Basic knowledge of electronics/RF
- Basic knowledge of magnetic resonance
- Basic knowledge of Python