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Physics for Physicists
Weekend Course
ORGANIZERS: Christoph Juchem, Herbert Köstler
Saturday, 11 May 2019
| Room 520A-F |
08:00 - 17:00 |
Moderators: Tobias Wech, Sebastian Theilenberg |
Skill Level: Basic to Advanced
Session Number: WE-01AB
Overview
The course comprises the physics of magnetic resonance from the first principles to the latest theoretical and experimental developments, including the mechanisms of spin polarization, the origin and detection of the NMR signal, MR system design and components, echo formation, MR spectroscopy, k-space and image reconstruction, contrast mechanisms, image quality measures, pulse sequence design, tissue-field interactions and safety, artifacts, parallel imaging, RF pulse design, as well as numerical simulations and available MR toolboxes related to the various topics at hand.
Target Audience
The course is intended for everybody in the MR scientific community who wishes to learn MR physics and engineering at an advanced technical level. While primarily designed for Ph.D. candidates and recent Ph.D. post-graduates in physics, engineering and related fields, this course is also suited for established MR scientists and physicians who seek a better quantitative understanding of specific areas of MR physics and technology. Individuals who are working in MR technology research and development and who wish to broaden their knowledge of MR physics will find this course particularly helpful.
Educational Objectives
As a result of attending this course, participants should be able to:
- Recognize spin behavior in a magnetic field and the different quantum mechanical interactions of spins;
- Define the physical principles of MR signal generation and detection;
- Describe the principles of interactions between electromagnetic fields and biological tissue, and recognize its relevance for safety;
- Summarize MR system architecture and the underlying physics;
- Explain the spectrum of both basic and advanced MRI sequences and image reconstruction approaches;
- Recognize the importance of image quality and artifact mitigation; and
- Describe the models and numerical tools for the description of MR physics including magnetization dynamics, electromagnetic field behavior and image reconstruction.
08:00
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MR Yesterday & Today: An Historic Perspective
Chris Boesch
We are standing on the shoulder of giants! The continuously surprising development of NMR in Chemistry and MR in Medicine is a perfect example how the early work of ingenious individuals enables the current community of researchers to go the next steps forward. This is in particular true if one considers the technical limitations of the early days. While engineers and companies are now providing almost ideal (as compared to the last century) tools with homogeneous high-field magnets, incredible gradient performance, multiple radiofrequency channels, and powerful data handling, many discoveries in the past were technically adventurous.
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08:30
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Spin Gymnastics: Phase Factor Begets MRI
Yi Wang
The proton spin phase factor of the gradient field is known to found the Fourier encoding system matrix for MR image formation. The phase factors of short-range proton magnetic field, long-range electron magnetic field, and movement in a gradient field also connect MR physics of relaxation, magnetism and transport with tissue biology of cellularity, biomolecularity and vascularity. Therefore, spin phase factors unify explanation of image formation and tissue contrasts.
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09:00
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The Classical Description & System Overview
Daniel Stäb
While the spin is an intrinsic quantum mechanical property of elementary particles, quantum mechanics are not necessarily required to describe many of the basic processes of NMR or MRI. This lecture aims at providing an intuitive understanding of the NMR phenomenon (including spin precession, RF excitation and relaxation) in conjunction with a brief overview of the basic components of MR systems.
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09:30
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Break & Meet the Teachers |
10:00
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MR Toolbox
Martin Krssák
This lecture will introduce and describe most of the “Tools” we are using as building blocks of MR imaging and spectroscopy sequences. It will start with radiofrequency (RF) excitation, use of the phase cycling and building up of spin echo. Principles of slice selection, use of the gradients for signal encoding and spoiling will also be described. A concept of the extended phase graph (EPG) theory, which is a tool for depicting and understanding the magnetization response of a broad variety of MR sequences will also be introduced.
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10:30
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The Physics of MR Spectroscopy
Uzay Emir
This presentation aims to provide insight into MR spectroscopy of humans and highlight the essential concepts of chemical shift, spectral dispersion associated with magnetic field strength, shimming, signal suppression, combination schemes for signal processing from phased array coils, sequence approach, and localization sequences.
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11:00
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Spatial Encoding & k-Space
Gigi Galiana
This course will cover the basic elements of spatial localization, with special focus on how the physics of spin evolution connect to k-space. This perspective will then be used to describe various phenomena in MRI, including PSFs, Nyquist relations, and non-Fourier encodings.
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11:30
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Lunch & Meet the Teachers |
13:30
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MRI Sequences
Jakob Assländer
Bringing together the previously learned building blocks, this course will discuss the basics of MRI pulse sequences with a focus on signal formation and contrast generation. We will shed some light on the overwhelming zoo of sequences (with an even larger number of acronyms) and discuss joint features, as well as the key differences.
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14:00
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Introduction to RF Pulses
Karl Landheer
The design of proper RF pulses for any magnetic resonance experiment is absolutely critical. Here we discuss basic properties of RF pulses such as the flip angle, duration, and amplitude, and extend into pulse design covering topics such as spatial localization, Shinnar Le-Roux pulses, adiabatic pulses, multi-band pulses and multi-dimensional pulses. Practical design and simulation is emphasized.
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14:30
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Magnetic Nanoparticles as MR Contrast Agent
Xiaoyuan Chen
Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have been extensively explored as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents. Recent progress in probing MRI relaxivity of MNPs based on structural features at the molecular and atomic scales is reviewed, namely, the structure–relaxivity relationships, including size, shape, crystal structure, surface modification, and assembled structure. A special emphasis is placed on bridging the gaps between classical simplistic models and modern MNPs with elegant structural complexity. In the pursuit of novel MRI contrast agents, it is hoped that this talk will spur the critical thinking for design and engineering of novel MNPs for MRI applications across a broad spectrum of research fields.
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15:00
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Break & Meet the Teachers |
15:30
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The Physics of Artifacts
Pedro Ferreira
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16:00
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Fields in MR & the Physics of Tissue-Field Interactions
Jinfeng Tian
Electromagnetic (EM) fields are one of the fundamental forces in nature, which provide us an insight into the physics of MRI. In the presentation, we will have an overview of the interactions between the EM fields and human body. Audience are expected to understand the basic EM fields and Maxwell equations, the interaction variation with frequency, numerical method election and FDTD procedures to interpret the interactions qualitatively and quantitatively, and a summary of EM simulation applications in MRI.
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16:30
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Numerical Simulation of MR physics
Tony Stöcker
This course provides insight into practical implementation of computer simulations based on classical MR physics. Analytical solutions versus numerical implementations will be discussed. Based on pictorial examples, an introduction to various MRI simulator software packages will be given. Some code snippets will be presented in order to implement MRI physics simulation from scratch
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17:00
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Adjournment & Meet the Teachers |
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