Planar Magnetic Metamaterial Slabs for Magnetic Resonance Imaging Applications

A type of planar magnetic metamaterial is proposed with a square winding microstructure as a superlens for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications. A direct magnetic field mapping measurement demonstrates that the radio-frequency magnetic field passing through the superlens is increased by as high as 46.9% at the position of about 3 cm behind the superlens. The resonance frequency of the fabricated slabs is found to be in good agreement with the target frequency (63.6 MHz) for a 1.5 T MRI system. MRI experiments with the magnetic superlens show that the intensity of the image and the SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) are both enhanced, implying promising MRI applications of our planar magnetic superlens.