Parasitic element based decoupling of 7 tesla MRI coil array

For high and ultrahigh field MRI applications, parallel imaging that employs multi-channel RF coil arrays has been developed in order to reduce data acquisition time and to manipulate the Bi distribution by enabling RF shimming. However, implementing parallel imaging or parallel excitation still is considered a significant challenge in terms of high electromagnetic coupling among closely placed resonant elements in coil arrays. This contribution investigates the decoupling performance between coupled meandered microstrip line RF coil elements by applying the concept of parasitic decoupling elements. The design of the reactively loaded parasitic elements and evaluation of decoupling performance of a 2-element and an 8-element array of coils is based on EM simulation. Experimental verification of the method is presented in a 2-element array.