Unshielded gradient coils design for magnetic resonance imaging.

One of the most important concepts for obtaining an image using MRI is the use of magnetic field gradients. There have been developed different techniques to improve the quality of the magnetic field gradients that allow high strength gradient fields that can be rapidly switched on and off for fast imaging modalities, large homogeneous-gradient-volume or minimum inductance. This work is focused on a comparison between two methods based in the target field method proposed by Turner to build cylindrical unshielded gradient coils. Carlson proposed a current distribution using a Fourier series for a coil of finite length (CAHM). Another solution was proposed by Chronik [4] that adds a set of current constraints forcing the current to lie over a certain length (CCMI). A transverse head gradient coil for imaging application has been implemented in the MATLAB software language and used to create a gradient coil using the CCMI and CAHM methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]