If the receiving RF
coil is sensitive to tissue signal arising from outside the desired
FOV, this undesired signal may be incorrectly mapped to a location within the image, a phenomenon known as aliasing. This is a consequence of the acquired
k-space frequencies not being sampled densely enough, whereby portions of the object outside of the desired
FOV get mapped to an incorrect location inside the
FOV.
The
sampling frequency should be at least twice the
frequency being sampled. The maximum measurable
frequency is therefore equal to half the
sampling frequency. This is the so-called
Nyquist limit. When the
frequency is higher than the
Nyquist limit, aliasing occurs.
A similar problem occurs in the
phase encoding direction, where the phases of signal-bearing tissues outside of the
FOV in the y-direction are a replication of the phases that are encoded within the
FOV. This signal will be mapped, or wrapped back into the image at incorrect locations, and is seen as
artifact.
See also
Aliasing Artifact.