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IOP PUBLISHING
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 41 (2008) 105009 (3pp)
Magnetic particle imaging using a field
free line
Juergen Weizenecker, Bernhard Gleich and Joern Borgert
Philips Technologie GmbH Forschungslaboratorien, Hamburg, Germany
Received 11 December 2007, in final form 28 March 2008
Published 1 May 2008
Online at stacks.iop.org/JPhysD/41/105009
Abstract
This paper presents a simulation study on the use of a field free line in magnetic particle
imaging. A major improvement in the image quality is demonstrated. The reason for this
image quality improvement is discussed, and routes for the technical implementation of the
effect are sketched.
1. Introduction
Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) as described in [1] relies
on the magnetization change caused by a drive field near
a field free point (FFP). The spatial size of the responding
region depends on the strength of the selection field and the
tracer performance [1]. As the magnetization remains in the
state of saturation at all other points in space, these points
do not contribute to the signal. Hence the method may be
characterized as a sensitive spot imaging method. During
image acquisition, the sensitive spot is moved over the whole
region of interest.
One of the central discoveries enabling clinical magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) was that the simultaneous signal
acquisition
√ from N voxels increases the signal to noise ratio
by N over single voxel acquisition, given a constant total
acquisition time [2]. The reason for this is that the noise for a
given acquisition time is independent of the properties of the
signal, such as its spatial extension.
Although it has been demonstrated previously that a point
based signal acquisition in MPI already yields good image
quality at low tracer dosage and acquisition time [3], MPI might
also benefit from a simultaneous acquisition scheme.
For two dimensions, this can be accomplished by scanning
the FOV with a field free line (FFL) instead of a FFP. This
is similar to the image encoding scheme as used in x-ray
computed tomography (CT).
2. Materials and methods
The applied simulation method is very similar to the one
described in [3]. In brief, the clear space of the scanner is
large enough to accommodate an adult human. The noise
model represents the expected noise from a human coil loading.
To compute the magnetization, the Langevin theory [4] is
used for 30 nm particles, and the particles are assumed to
0022-3727/08/105009+03$30.00
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D: APPLIED PHYSICS
doi:10.1088/0022-3727/41/10/105009
have a magnetization of magnetite as found in [5]. For
reconstruction, a direct inversion is used together with a
zero order regularization scheme [6]. The necessary system
function is also simulated, but without noise. This is justified,
because the noise in a measured system function can be small
compared with the noise of the object, as the concentration and
measuring time can be increased. The reconstructed image
consists of 128 × 128 voxels and has a side length of 20 mm.
For more details, see [3].
However, in this paper, the selection field unit (see
figure 1) and the sequence in the drive field coils are different.
Moreover, the selection field is no longer static and is generated
by 32 coils located on a circle with a diameter of 1 m.
The diameter of the individual coils is 9.4 cm, and their
symmetry axes always point to the centre of the setup. The
temporal current through the coils with index i is given by
Ii (t) = A sin2 [(2π /32)i + (2π /3.88 ms)t] + C. The constants
A and C are set to generate a straight FFL with a gradient of
2.5 T m−1 perpendicular to the line. As seen from Ii (t), the
FFL performs a full rotation every 3.88 ms. On top of that
rotation, two large coil pairs provide an oscillating field (drive
field) with a frequency of 25.25 kHz. The field amplitude of
the drive field in the centre of the apparatus was set to 20 mT
µ−10 . Its orientation is always perpendicular to the FFL, using
appropriate relative currents in the coil pairs. This moves the
FFL back and forth, while it rotates relatively slowly. For one
rotation, 98 full oscillations are performed.
3. Results and discussion
In figure 2, simulations for a FFL as well as a FFP are
displayed for various concentrations. The image quality using
the FFL is in general better than those for the FFP at the same
concentration. In fact, the image with the highest concentration
using the FFP (symbol α in figure 2) has a quality comparable
1 © 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 41 (2008) 105009 J Weizenecker et al

to the FFL image with only a tenth of the concentration (also
symbol
√ α in figure 2). Theoretically, one would expect a factor
of 128 ≈ 11.3 applying the rules for the simplest MRI
theory. Comparing these two α-images, one can observe a
Figure 1. Schematic setup of the simulated scanner geometry and
the path of the FFL. The ring of 32 small coils produces the rotating
FFL. The two pairs of larger loops (drive field coils) move this FFL
over the field of view. The smaller rectangular coils represent the
recording coils. The drawing is true to scale, and the diameter of the
selection field coil ring is 1 m. On the upper right, the trajectory of
the FFL is illustrated. The grey rosette illustrates the vector of the
drive field as a function of time. At the time tx the rosette has
evolved to the ‘position’ x, and the homogeneous drive field B(tx )
(sketched in the centre) has the direction of the connecting line
between the centre of the rosette and the position x. The field
strength is proportional to the length of this line. Superimposing the
selection field and the drive field, the FFL moves along the drive
field vector provided that the orientation of the FFL is always
perpendicular to the drive field vector. Hence, the FFL scans back
and forth while rotating slowly. This is sketched for three arbitrary
times, t0 , t1 and t2 .
higher resolution for the FFL image in the horizontal direction.
This is due to the higher selection field gradient in that direction
when using the FFL. In general, the regularization in the case
of FFP and FFL acts differently regarding image properties
like resolution and signal to noise. Nevertheless, it is further
possible to equalize the image impression using a spatial low
pass filter on the FFL images.
The factor of about 10 is maintained comparing the images
denoted with β. However, the low concentration images
denoted with γ do not have a comparable quality. The FFL
image has a lower resolution, and the noise background is
higher, too. So, for low concentrations, the improvement in
the sensitivity of the FFL over the FFP decreases. The reduced
number of distinguishable voxels at lower concentrations may
explain this. Due to the lower resolution, the effective number
of voxels in a line is no longer the original 128, but the number
of distinguishable image elements. The resolution of the γ
FFP image is 1.6 mm [3]. Hence, the number of effective
voxels in a line is about
√ 13. Therefore, the expected increase
in sensitivity is only 13 ≈ 3.6. This relative sensitivity is
validated in image γ̄ (figure 2).
4. Conclusion and outlook
The results indicate the possibility of a more effective
encoding scheme for MPI than presented so far. When
MPI was originally presented [1], the sensitivity of MPI
was related to the sensitivity of MRI only by comparing
relative magnetizations. In the view of this paper, this fact
can be further confirmed, as the encoding efficiency can be
comparable.
However, from a technical point of view, it seems to be
a considerable effort to realize a fast scanning with a FFL.

Figure 2. Comparison of the reconstructed images for FFP and FFL encoding. Various concentrations for 30 nm particles are shown in
images of 20 × 20 mm2 size containing 128 × 128 voxels. The acquisition time was assumed to be 40 s. The regularization parameter was
chosen by the best visual impression resulting in a signal-to-noise ratio of about 10 in every image. The images using the FFL resemble the
FFP images, the latter with a roughly 10 times higher concentration. At lower concentration (γ ), this is no longer valid. Here, the increase
of image quality is less, and therefore, an intermediate concentration FFL image is provided (labelled γ̄ ). Images to be compared are
denoted with the same Greek letter.

2
J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 41 (2008) 105009
Moreover, no generalization to higher dimensions such as
field free planes is possible due to the Maxwell equations.
But MPI does not necessarily need a field free line/plane for
efficient encoding, as the magnetic anisotropy of the particles
may be utilized. Applying a field in the direction of the
axis of the anisotropy (easy axis) produces strong harmonics,
but orthogonal field components result in nearly no signal.
This means that the particles are mainly sensitive to the
change of one field component only. Hence, for generating
a signal from a plane, it is only necessary to align the easy
axis of the particles and to generate a field free plane with
respect to one component. The Maxwell equations allow such
fields, and, in fact, the selection field with a FFP already has
this property. In conclusion, anisoptropic particles together
with a suitable sequence will likely allow for an efficient
encoding.
J Weizenecker et al
References
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[3] Weizenecker J, Borgert J and Gleich B 2007 A simulation study
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