A COMPACT SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNET FOR MAGNETIC-RESONANCE MICROSCOPY

Magnetic resonance microscopy (MRM) depends on the use of high field, superconducting magnet systems for its operation. The magnets that are conventionally used are those that were initially designed for chemic al structural analysis work. A novel, compact magnet designed specific ally for MRM is presented here, and while preserving high field, high homogeneity conditions, has a length less than one-third that of conve ntional systems. This enables much better access to samples, an import ant consideration in many MRM experiments. As the homogeneity of a mag net is strongly dependent on its length, novel geometries and optimiza tion techniques are required to meet the requirements of MRM in a comp act system. An important outcome of the stochastic optimization perfor med in this work, is that the use used of a thin superconducting solen oid surrounded by counterwound disk windings provides a mechanism for drastic length reductions over conventional magnet designs. (C) 1998 A merican Institute of Physics.