% this is an experimental high-performance EPI sequence % which uses split gradients to overlap blips with the readout % gradients combined with ramp-samping seq=mr.Sequence(); % Create a new sequence object fov=250e-3; Nx=64; Ny=64; % Define FOV and resolution thickness=3e-3; % slice thinckness Nslices=3; TE=40e-3; pe_enable=1; % a flag to quickly disable phase encoding (1/0) as needed for the delay calibration ro_os=1; % oversampling factor (in contrast to the product sequence we don't really need it) readoutTime=4.2e-4; % this controls the readout bandwidth partFourierFactor=0.75; % partial Fourier factor: 1: full sampling 0: start with ky=0 tRFex=2e-3; tRFref=2e-3; spoilFactor=1.5; % spoiling gradient around the pi-pulse % Set system limits lims = mr.opts('MaxGrad',32,'GradUnit','mT/m',... 'MaxSlew',130,'SlewUnit','T/m/s',... 'rfRingdownTime', 30e-6, 'rfDeadtime', 100e-6, 'adcDeadTime', 10e-6); % Create fat-sat pulse B0=2.89; % 1.5 2.89 3.0 sat_ppm=-3.45; sat_freq=sat_ppm*1e-6*B0*lims.gamma; rf_fs = mr.makeGaussPulse(110*pi/180,'system',lims,'Duration',8e-3,... 'bandwidth',abs(sat_freq),'freqOffset',sat_freq, 'use', 'saturation'); rf_fs.phaseOffset=-2*pi*rf_fs.freqOffset*mr.calcRfCenter(rf_fs); % compensate for the frequency-offset induced phase gz_fs = mr.makeTrapezoid('z',lims,'delay',mr.calcDuration(rf_fs),'Area',1/1e-4); % spoil up to 0.1mm % Create 90 degree slice selection pulse and gradient [rf, gz, gzReph] = mr.makeSincPulse(pi/2,'system',lims,'Duration',tRFex,... 'SliceThickness',thickness,'apodization',0.5,'timeBwProduct',4, 'use','excitation'); % Create 90 degree slice refocusing pulse and gradients [rf180, gz180] = mr.makeSincPulse(pi,'system',lims,'Duration',tRFref,... 'SliceThickness',thickness,'apodization',0.5,'timeBwProduct',4,'PhaseOffset',pi/2,'use','refocusing'); % [~, gzr_t, gzr_a]=mr.makeExtendedTrapezoidArea('z',gz180.amplitude,0,-gzReph.area+0.5*gz180.amplitude*gz180.fallTime,lims); % gz180n=mr.makeExtendedTrapezoid('z','system',lims,'times',[0 gz180.riseTime gz180.riseTime+gz180.flatTime+gzr_t]+gz180.delay, 'amplitudes', [0 gz180.amplitude gzr_a]); [~, gzr1_t, gzr1_a]=mr.makeExtendedTrapezoidArea('z',0,gz180.amplitude,spoilFactor*gz.area,lims); [~, gzr2_t, gzr2_a]=mr.makeExtendedTrapezoidArea('z',gz180.amplitude,0,-gzReph.area+spoilFactor*gz.area,lims); if gz180.delay>(gzr1_t(4)-gz180.riseTime) gz180.delay=gz180.delay-(gzr1_t(4)-gz180.riseTime); else rf180.delay=rf180.delay+(gzr1_t(4)-gz180.riseTime)-gz180.delay; gz180.delay=0; end gz180n=mr.makeExtendedTrapezoid('z','system',lims,'times',[gzr1_t gzr1_t(4)+gz180.flatTime+gzr2_t]+gz180.delay, 'amplitudes', [gzr1_a gzr2_a]); % define the output trigger to play out with every slice excitatuion trig=mr.makeDigitalOutputPulse('osc0','duration', 100e-6); % possible channels: 'osc0','osc1','ext1' % Define other gradients and ADC events deltak=1/fov; kWidth = Nx*deltak; % Phase blip in shortest possible time blip_dur = ceil(2*sqrt(deltak/lims.maxSlew)/10e-6/2)*10e-6*2; % we round-up the duration to 2x the gradient raster time % the split code below fails if this really makes a trpezoid instead of a triangle... gy = mr.makeTrapezoid('y',lims,'Area',-deltak,'Duration',blip_dur); % we use negative blips to save one k-space line on our way towards the k-space center %gy = mr.makeTrapezoid('y',lims,'amplitude',deltak/blip_dur*2,'riseTime',blip_dur/2, 'flatTime', 0); % readout gradient is a truncated trapezoid with dead times at the beginnig % and at the end each equal to a half of blip_dur % the area between the blips should be defined by kWidth % we do a two-step calculation: we first increase the area assuming maximum % slewrate and then scale down the amlitude to fix the area extra_area=blip_dur/2*blip_dur/2*lims.maxSlew; % check unit!; gx = mr.makeTrapezoid('x',lims,'Area',kWidth+extra_area,'duration',readoutTime+blip_dur); actual_area=gx.area-gx.amplitude/gx.riseTime*blip_dur/2*blip_dur/2/2-gx.amplitude/gx.fallTime*blip_dur/2*blip_dur/2/2; gx.amplitude=gx.amplitude/actual_area*kWidth; gx.area = gx.amplitude*(gx.flatTime + gx.riseTime/2 + gx.fallTime/2); gx.flatArea = gx.amplitude*gx.flatTime; % calculate ADC % we use ramp sampling, so we have to calculate the dwell time and the % number of samples, which are will be qite different from Nx and % readoutTime/Nx, respectively. adcDwellNyquist=deltak/gx.amplitude/ro_os; % round-down dwell time to 100 ns adcDwell=floor(adcDwellNyquist*1e7)*1e-7; adcSamples=floor(readoutTime/adcDwell/4)*4; % on Siemens the number of ADC samples need to be divisible by 4 % MZ: no idea, whether ceil,round or floor is better for the adcSamples... adc = mr.makeAdc(adcSamples,'Dwell',adcDwell,'Delay',blip_dur/2); % realign the ADC with respect to the gradient time_to_center=adc.dwell*((adcSamples-1)/2+0.5); % I've been told that Siemens samples in the center of the dwell period adc.delay=round((gx.riseTime+gx.flatTime/2-time_to_center)*1e6)*1e-6; % we adjust the delay to align the trajectory with the gradient. We have to aligh the delay to 1us % this rounding actually makes the sampling points on odd and even readouts % to appear misalligned. However, on the real hardware this misalignment is % much stronger anyways due to the grdient delays % FOV positioning requires alignment to grad. raster... -> TODO % split the blip into two halves and produnce a combined synthetic gradient gy_parts = mr.splitGradientAt(gy, blip_dur/2, lims); [gy_blipup, gy_blipdown, ~]=mr.align('right',gy_parts(1),'left',gy_parts(2),gx); gy_blipdownup=mr.addGradients({gy_blipdown, gy_blipup}, lims); % pe_enable support gy_blipup.waveform=gy_blipup.waveform*pe_enable; gy_blipdown.waveform=gy_blipdown.waveform*pe_enable; gy_blipdownup.waveform=gy_blipdownup.waveform*pe_enable; % phase encoding and partial Fourier Ny_pre=round(partFourierFactor*Ny/2-1); % PE steps prior to ky=0, excluding the central line Ny_post=round(Ny/2+1); % PE lines after the k-space center including the central line Ny_meas=Ny_pre+Ny_post; % Pre-phasing gradients gxPre = mr.makeTrapezoid('x',lims,'Area',-gx.area/2); gyPre = mr.makeTrapezoid('y',lims,'Area',Ny_pre*deltak); [gxPre,gyPre]=mr.align('right',gxPre,'left',gyPre); % relax the PE prepahser to reduce stimulation gyPre = mr.makeTrapezoid('y',lims,'Area',gyPre.area,'Duration',mr.calcDuration(gxPre,gyPre)); gyPre.amplitude=gyPre.amplitude*pe_enable; % Calculate delay times durationToCenter = (Ny_pre+0.5)*mr.calcDuration(gx); rfCenterInclDelay=rf.delay + mr.calcRfCenter(rf); rf180centerInclDelay=rf180.delay + mr.calcRfCenter(rf180); delayTE1=ceil((TE/2 - mr.calcDuration(rf,gz) + rfCenterInclDelay - rf180centerInclDelay)/lims.gradRasterTime)*lims.gradRasterTime; delayTE2=ceil((TE/2 - mr.calcDuration(rf180,gz180n) + rf180centerInclDelay - durationToCenter)/lims.gradRasterTime)*lims.gradRasterTime; assert(delayTE1>=0); %assert(delayTE2>=0); % now we merge slice refocusing, TE delay and pre-phasers into a single % block delayTE2=delayTE2+mr.calcDuration(rf180,gz180n); gxPre.delay=0; gxPre.delay=delayTE2-mr.calcDuration(gxPre); assert(gxPre.delay>=mr.calcDuration(rf180)); % gxPre may not overlap with the RF gyPre.delay=mr.calcDuration(rf180); assert(mr.calcDuration(gyPre)<=mr.calcDuration(gxPre)); % gyPre may not shift the timing % Define sequence blocks %seq.addBlock(mr.makeDelay(1)); % older scanners like Trio may need this % dummy delay to keep up with timing for s=1:Nslices seq.addBlock(rf_fs,gz_fs); rf.freqOffset=gz.amplitude*thickness*(s-1-(Nslices-1)/2); rf.phaseOffset=-2*pi*rf.freqOffset*mr.calcRfCenter(rf); % compensate for the slice-offset induced phase rf180.freqOffset=gz180.amplitude*thickness*(s-1-(Nslices-1)/2); rf180.phaseOffset=pi/2-2*pi*rf180.freqOffset*mr.calcRfCenter(rf180); % compensate for the slice-offset induced phase seq.addBlock(rf,gz,trig); seq.addBlock(mr.makeDelay(delayTE1)); seq.addBlock(rf180,gz180n,mr.makeDelay(delayTE2),gxPre,gyPre); for i=1:Ny_meas if i==1 seq.addBlock(gx,gy_blipup,adc); % Read the first line of k-space with a single half-blip at the end elseif i==Ny_meas seq.addBlock(gx,gy_blipdown,adc); % Read the last line of k-space with a single half-blip at the beginning else seq.addBlock(gx,gy_blipdownup,adc); % Read an intermediate line of k-space with a half-blip at the beginning and a half-blip at the end end gx.amplitude = -gx.amplitude; % Reverse polarity of read gradient end end %% check whether the timing of the sequence is correct [ok, error_report]=seq.checkTiming; if (ok) fprintf('Timing check passed successfully\n'); else fprintf('Timing check failed! Error listing follows:\n'); fprintf([error_report{:}]); fprintf('\n'); end %% do some visualizations % trajectory calculation % plot k-spaces %% prepare the sequence output for the scanner seq.setDefinition('FOV', [fov fov thickness]); seq.setDefinition('Name', 'epi'); seq.write('epi_se_rs.seq');