Faster imaging with a portable unilateral NMR device

Unilateral NMR devices are important tools in various applications such as non-destructive testing and well logging, but are not applied routinely for imaging, primarily because B₀ inhomogeneity in these scanners leads to a relatively low signal and requires use of the slow single point imaging scan scheme. Enabling high quality, fast imaging could make this affordable and portable technology practical for various imaging applications as well as for new applications that are not yet feasible with MRI technology. The goal of this work was to improve imaging times in a portable unilateral NMR scanner. Both Compressed Sensing and Fast Spin Echo were modified and applied to fit the unique characteristics of a unilateral device. Two printed phantoms, allowing high resolution images, were scanned with both methods and compared to a standard scan and to a low pass scan to evaluate performance. Both methods were found to be feasible with a unilateral device, proving ways to accelerate single point imaging in such scanners. This outcome encourages us to explore how to further accelerate imaging times in unilateral NMR devices so that this technology might become clinically applicable in the future.