Development of a magnetic resonance microscope using a high Tc bulk superconducting magnet

Abstract

We have developed the first magnetic resonance (MR) microscope using a high critical-temperature superconducting bulk magnet. The bulk magnet comprises six annular bulk superconductors (60 mm outer diameter, 28 mm inner diameter, 20 mm high) made of c-axis oriented single-domain EuBa2Cu3Oy crystals. The magnet was energized using a superconducting NMR magnet operating at 4.7 T. The inhomogeneity of the trapped magnetic field measured with MR imaging was 3.1 ppm (rms) in the ϕ6.2 mm×9.1 mm cylindrical region. Three-dimensional MR images of a chemically fixed mouse embryo acquired with voxels of (50 μm)3 demonstrated the potential of our system.