Development of a mouse MRI using a superconducting bulk magnet

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24360034
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Applied physics, general
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba
• Principal Investigator: KOSE Katsumi 筑波大学, 数理物質系, 教授 (60186690)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): NAKAMURA Takashi 理化学研究所, 分子構造解析ユニット, 専任技師 (60321791) ; TERADA Yasuhiko 筑波大学, 数理物質系, 助教 (20400640)
• Research Collaborator: TAMADA Daiki
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: MRI / 高温超伝導

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We developed a magnetic resonance (MR) microscope using a high critical-temperature superconducting bulk magnet. The bulk magnet comprises six annular bulk superconductors (two end bulk magnets : 60 mm OD, 28 mm ID, and 23 mm height, four inner bulk magnets : 60 mm OD, 36 mm ID, and 18.5 mm height) made of c-axis oriented single-domain EuBa2Cu3Oy crystals. The magnet was energized using a superconducting NMR magnet for high-resolution NMR spectroscopy operating at 4.7 T. The trapped magnetic field was homogenized using a single-layer shim-coil developed in our group. The inhomogeneity of the trapped magnetic field measured with MR imaging was 15.4 ppm (peak-to-peak) in the 8.4 mm diameter and 10 mm long cylindrical region. Three-dimensional MR images of a chemically-fixed mouse fetus acquired with 50 micrometer cube voxels demonstrated the usefulness of our system.

Free Research Field

物理計測