A Double‐Layer 1 H/ 23 Na Transceiver Array for Human Brain MRI at 7T

ABSTRACT With the increasing adoption of ultra‐high‐field (UHF) systems, sodium ( 23 Na) imaging is undergoing clinical translation. However, existing commercially available dual‐tuned coils, while demonstrating adequate sodium signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR), fail to meet the requirements for high‐resolution proton ( 1 H) structural imaging, resulting in suboptimal workflow efficiency during integrated multi‐nucleus examinations. In this work, we present a novel double‐layer 1 H/ 23 Na transceiver array with eight channels per nucleus for human brain MRI at 7T. The proposed array achieved 64% of the 1 H SNR of the 32‐channel receive array commonly used in clinical practice. By integrating dual‐nucleus imaging capabilities within a single platform, this design eliminates coil‐switching requirements and post‐acquisition registration, thereby streamlining clinical workflows and advancing sodium MRI translational feasibility.