Correction of excitation profile in zero echo time (ZTE) imaging using quadratic phase-modulated RF pulse excitation and iterative reconstruction

Zero-echo Time (ZTE) imaging is a promising technique for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of short-T2 tissue nuclei in tissues. A problem inherent to the method currently hindering its translation to the clinic is the presence of a spatial encoding gradient during excitation, which causes the hard pulse to become spatially selective, resulting in blurring and shadow artifacts in the image. While shortening radio-frequency (RF) pulse duration alleviates this problem the resulting elevated RF peak power and specific absorption rate (SAR) in practice impede such a solution. In this work, an approach is described to correct the artifacts by applying quadratic phase-modulated RF excitation and iteratively solving an inverse problem formulated from the signal model of ZTE imaging. A simple pulse sequence is also developed to measure the excitation profile of the RF pulse. Results from simulations, phantom and in vivo studies, demonstrate the effectiveness of the method in correcting image artifacts caused by inhomogeneous excitation. The proposed method may contribute toward establishing ZTE MRI as a routine 3D pulse sequence for imaging protons and other nuclei with quasi solid-state behavior on clinical scanners.