Tests of a Prototype for Assessing the Field Homogeneity of the Iseult/Inumac 11.7 T Whole Body MRI Magnet

A neuroscience research center with very high field MRI equipment was opened in November 2006 by the CEA life science division. One of the imaging systems requires a 11.75 T magnet with a 900 mm warm bore, the so-call Iseult/Inumac magnet. Regarding the large aperture and field strength, this magnet is a challenge as compared to the largest MRI systems ever built, and will be developed within an ambitious R&D program. With the objective of demonstrating the possibility of achieving field homogeneity better than 1 ppm using double pancake windings, a 24 double pancakes model coil, working at 1.5 T has been designed. This model magnet was manufactured by Alstom MSA and tested at CEA. It has been measured with a very high precision, in order to fully characterize the field homogeneity, and then to investigate and discriminate the parameters that influence the field map. This magnet has reached the bare magnet field homogeneity specification expected for Iseult and thus successfully demonstrated the feasibility of building a homogenous magnet with the double pancake winding technique.