A coil consists of one or more loops of conductive wire, looped around the core of the coil. Coils are part of the hardware of MRI machines and are used to create a magnetic field or to detect a changing magnetic field by voltage induced in the wire. A coil is usually a physically small antenna.
The perfect coil produces a uniform magnetic field without significant radiation.
Different types of MRI coils are used in MR systems:
Gradient coils are used to produce controlled variations in the main magnetic field (B0) to provide spatial localization of the signals and to apply reversal pulses in some imaging techniques.
MR imaging radio frequency coils to receive and/or transmit the RF signal.
Shim coils provide auxiliary magnetic fields in order to compensate for inhomogeneities in the main magnetic field of the MRI machine.

See also Gradient Coil, Radio Frequency Coil, Hardware and Coil Loading.

See also the related POLL result: '3rd party coils are better than the original manufacturer coils'

A coil designed to excite or detect spins using two orthogonal transmit and/or receive channels. As a transmitter coil, there is a factor of 2 reductions in power required. The receiver coil has a better SNR than a linearly polarized coil.

A coil that produces an RF field with circular polarization. The RF power received from the RF power amplifier comes in two signals (quadrature detection), which have a phase difference of 90°. The RF transmit coil converts the power into a circularly polarized RF magnetic field.
Quadrature coils can be used as both, transmit and/or receive coil. When used as a transmitter coil a factor of two power reduction over a linear coil results; as a receiver an increase in SNR of up to a factor of √2, can be achieved.

See also the related poll result: '3rd party coils are better than the original manufacturer coils'

A device that enables the sending and/or receiving of electromagnetic waves.

See also Transmitter, Receiver Coil and Surface Coil.

A semiconductor device whose RF resistance varies in proportion to an applied DC bias current. PIN diodes are essential elements for rapid switching of RF coils between transmit and receive modes and for coil decoupling.