Small tip angle three‐dimensional tailored radiofrequency slab‐select pulse for reduced B 1 inhomogeneity at 3 T

This work presents a small tip‐angle 3D tailored RF slab‐select pulse for reducing the B 1 field inhomogeneity at 3T. The compensated slice profile was determined from a B 1 inhomogeneity map. SNR improvement and degree of artifact reduction were evaluated in a NiCl 2 doped phantom and human brains. The technique was found to reduce inhomogeneities as large as 30% of the peak image magnitude in all three spatial directions in the brain using a standard head coil. Magn Reson Med 53:479–484, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.