A 7T head coil with 16-channel dual-row transmit and 32-channel receive array for pTx applications and high SNR

Transmit elements arranged in multiple rows are beneficial in extending longitudinal coverage and achieve whole brain excitation at ultra-high field strengths. Furthermore, studies have shown that dual-row arrays produce less local SAR. Receive arrays shaped to the contours of the anatomy improves the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the image. In this work, we develop a 2x8 transmit array for spin excitation in combination with a 32-channel high sensitive receive array for human brain imaging at 7T. Critical coil performance parameters like transmit efficiency and SNR were evaluated