Two-dimensional spatially selective spin inversion and spin-echo refocusing with a single nuclear magnetic resonance pulse

A new class of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) pulses that provides simultaneous spatially selective inversion of nuclear spins in two dimensions following a single pulse application is described and demonstrated. The two-dimensional selective pulses consist of a single square- or amplitude-modulated π rf pulse applied in the presence of an amplitude-modulated magnetic field gradient that reorients through the two dimensions during the rf pulse. For example, square and Gaussian rf pulses produce sharply peaked sombrero-, egg-carton-, and stalagmite-shaped profiles of spin inversion in the xz plane when applied in the presence of a gradient that rotates or describes a figure eight in the xz plane. The theoretical profiles, computed by numerical integration of the Bloch equation, are in good agreement with experimental results obtained by incorporating the pulses into a conventional NMR imaging sequence. The pulses are directly applicable to restricted field-of-view high-resolution imaging for the amelioration of aliasing signal artifacts, and when combined with one-dimensional localized phosphorus (³¹P) chemical shift spectroscopy techniques that employ surface detection coils, should permit complete three-dimensionally localized ³¹P NMR spectroscopy. The π pulses provide similar two-dimensional spatial selectivity of the transverse nuclear magnetization when used for refocusing Hahn spin echoes.