Synopsis

This educational talk introduces basics of high-performance gradient hardware. Gradient slew rate and amplitude are defined, and related to gradient lobe duration. How gradient coil inductance and resistance, along with driver voltage and current, determine performance parameters is presented, as well as how inductance scales with coil radius. The efficiency of whole-body, insert, and compact (head-only) geometries is considered. Some effects of physiological and non-physiological limitations on gradient performance are discussed. Selected corrections methods are considered in the context of high-performance systems. Finally, a few representative examples of high-performance gradient hardware are discussed.