Relation between noise correlation and transmission coefficient of surface coils for magnetic resonance imaging

To develop phased array surface coils, noise correlation between coil elements should be carefully considered. Here, an analytical expression has been derived which indicates the relation between noise correlation and transmission coefficient of any arbitrary two-port network. According to this result, it is clear that the transmission coefficient describes completely the noise correlation of the coils. To achieve minimum noise correlation for a coil system, one only needs to reduce the transmission coefficient s/sub 21/ between coil 1 and coil 2.