Research and Development of a High-field Coil System

– Development of a high-temperature superconducting magnet for ultrahigh-field MRI –

Abstract

A project for developing of RE₁Ba₂Cu₃O_7-δ (REBCO) magnets to be utilized in ultrahigh-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was started in 2013. Our final targets are 9.4 T MRI systems for whole-body and brain imaging. In this project, two different development approaches towards the final target were planned. One is a small REBCO coil that can generate 10 Tclass magnetic fields, which is the same level as the target magnetic field. The other is a conduction-cooled 1.5 T REBCO MRI magnet that has a room-temperature bore of 396 mm, which is as large as those of mid-sized model magnets. These results were reflected in the design of a conduction-cooled 9.4 T REBCO magnet for whole-body MRI systems.