Exact temporal eddy current compensation in magnetic resonance imaging systems

A step-response method has been developed to extract the properties (amplitudes and decay time constants) of intrinsic-eddy-current-sourced magnetic fields generated in whole-body magnetic resonance imaging systems when pulsed field gradients are applied. Exact compensation for the eddy-current effect is achieved through a polynomial rooting procedure and matrix inversion once the 2 N properties of the N-term decay process are known. The output of the inversion procedure yields the required characteristics of the filter for spectrum magnitude and phase equalization. The method is described for the general case along with experimental results for one-, two-, and three-term inversions. The method's usefulness is demonstrated for the usually difficult case of long-term (200-1000-ms) eddy-current compensation. Field-gradient spectral flatness measurements over 30 mHz-100 Hz are given to validate the method.