Conformal Metamaterials with Active Tunability and Self-adaptivity for Magnetic Resonance Imaging

TL;DR

This paper introduces a conformal, actively tunable metamaterial that enhances MRI imaging by passively sensing and amplifying magnetic fields during reception, overcoming size, frequency, and interference issues of traditional metamaterials.

Contribution

It presents a smart, conformal metamaterial with active tunability and self-adaptivity, enabling precise frequency matching and selective magnetic field amplification in MRI applications.

Findings

Achieved precise frequency tuning with controlling circuit.

Enabled passive magnetic field amplification during RF reception.

Reduced interference with transmission RF field.

Abstract

Ongoing effort has been devoted to applying metamaterials to boost the imaging performance of magnetic resonance imaging owing to their unique capacity for electromagnetic field confinement and enhancement. However, there are still major obstacles to widespread clinical adoption of conventional metamaterials due to several notable restrictions, namely: their typically bulky and rigid structures, deviations in their optimal resonance frequency, and their inevitable interference with the transmission RF field in MRI. Herein, we address these restrictions and report a conformal, smart metamaterial, which may not only be readily tuned to achieve the desired, precise frequency match with MRI by a controlling circuit, but is also capable of selectively amplifying the magnetic field during the RF reception phase by sensing the excitation signal strength passively, thereby remaining off during the RF transmission phase and thereby ensuring its optimal performance when applied to MRI as an additive technology. By addressing a host of current technological challenges, the metamaterial presented herein paves the way toward the wide-ranging utilization of metamaterials in clinical MRI, thereby translating this promising technology to the MRI bedside.