FURI | Spring 2022

Flexible Fractal-Inspired Metamaterial for Head Imaging at 3 Tesla MRI

The noninvasiveness and increased tissue contrast of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) make it an advantageous diagnostic tool relative to its contemporaries, such as CT and PET scans. In high-field MRI, particularly in 3T systems, standing wave effects are present due to the shorter wavelengths proportional in size to the patient, generating bright and dark spots in the image. Metamaterials, or artificial periodic structures designed to exhibit specific electromagnetic properties, have been used to mitigate these standing wave effects and improve image contrast. A designed fractal-based flexible metamaterial increases normalized signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in 3T axial images of a human head phantom.