Systems and methods for volumetric acquisition in a single-sided MRI scanner

1. A method for performing magnetic resonance imaging comprising:

providing a magnetic resonance imaging system comprising:

a radio frequency receive system comprising a radio frequency receive coil, and

a housing, wherein the housing comprises:

a permanent magnet for providing an inhomogeneous permanent gradient field,

a radio frequency transmit system, and

a single-sided gradient coil set;

placing the radio frequency receive coil proximate a target subject;

applying a sequence of chirped pulses via the radio frequency transmit system;

applying a multi-slice excitation along the inhomogeneous permanent gradient field;

applying a plurality of gradient pulses via the single-sided gradient coil set orthogonal to the inhomogeneous permanent gradient field;

acquiring a signal of the target subject via the radio frequency receive system, wherein the signal comprises at least two chirped pulses; and

forming a magnetic resonance image of the target subject.

2. A magnetic resonance imaging system comprising:

a radio frequency receive system comprising a radio frequency receive coil configured to be placed proximate a target subject, wherein the radio frequency receive system is configured to deliver a signal of a target subject for forming a magnetic resonance image of the target subject, wherein the signal comprises at least two chirped pulses, and

a housing, wherein the housing comprises:

a permanent magnet for providing an inhomogeneous permanent gradient field, wherein the magnetic resonance imaging system is configured to apply a multi-slice excitation along the inhomogeneous permanent gradient field,

a radio frequency transmit system configured to deliver a sequence of chirped pulses, and

a single-sided gradient coil set configured to deliver a plurality of gradient pulses orthogonal to the inhomogeneous permanent gradient field.

3. The system of claim 2 , further comprising a power source, wherein the power source is configured to flow current through at least one of the radio frequency transmit system, and the single-sided gradient coil set, to generate an electromagnetic field in a region of interest, wherein the region of interest encompasses the target subject.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the region of interest has a diameter of 4 to 12 inches.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein the magnetic resonance imaging system is configured to apply the multi-slice excitation comprising exciting multiple slices along an axis of the inhomogeneous permanent gradient field.

6. The system of claim 2 , wherein the chirped pulses in the sequence of chirped pulses comprise identical bandwidths and differing durations.

7. The system of claim 2 , wherein the chirped pulses in the sequence of chirped pulses have a bandwidth ranging from 1 kHz to 10 kHz, 10 kHz to 40 kHz, 40 kHz to 100 kHz, 100 kHz to 400 kHz, 400 kHz to 1 MHz, or any ranges of bandwidth thereof.

8. The system of claim 2 , wherein the chirped pulses in the sequence of chirped pulses are configured to produce a 1-dimensional signal along an axis of the inhomogeneous permanent gradient field.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the 1-dimensional signal is a first 1-dimensional signal, and the gradient pulses are configured to produce a second 1-dimensional signal and a third 1-dimensional signal that are orthogonal to each other and to the axis of the inhomogeneous permanent gradient field.

10. The system of claim 2 , wherein the gradient pulses are configured for encoding spatial information to the signal.

11. The system of claim 2 , wherein the combination of the inhomogeneous permanent gradient field and the chirped pulses in the sequence of chirped pulses are configured for slice selection in the inhomogeneous permanent gradient and a frequency encoding gradient.

12. The system of claim 2 , wherein the target subject is an anatomical portion of a body.

13. The system of claim 2 , wherein the radio frequency receive coil comprises an array of receive coils and each of the array of receive coils is configured for specific anatomical portion of a body.

14. The system of claim 2 , wherein the chirped pulses in the sequence of chirped pulses induce a signal in the target subject, and the radio frequency receive coil is configured to receive the signal.

15. The system of claim 2 , wherein each of the at least two chirped pulses are split into two components that are 90 degrees out of phase.

16. The system of claim 2 , wherein the radio frequency transmit system further comprises two separate ports configured to generate the chirped pulses in the sequence of chirped pulses.

17. The system of claim 2 , wherein the magnetic resonance imaging system further comprises a signal conditioning box and a control system, wherein the signal conditioning box is configured to turn the control system on and off with a blanking signal.

18. The system of claim 17 , further comprising a radio frequency amplifier, the amplifier enabled and disabled when the control system is turned on and off with the blanking signal.

19. The system of claim 3 , wherein the radio frequency transmit system comprises a transmit coil that is non-planar and oriented to partially surround the region of interest.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the magnetic resonance imaging system further comprises a tuning box, wherein the tuning box is configured to alter the frequency response of the transmit coil.

21. The system of claim 3 , wherein the single-sided gradient coil set is non-planar and oriented to partially surround the region of interest, and wherein the single-sided gradient coil set is configured to project a magnetic field gradient to the region of interest.

22. The system of claim 3 , wherein the radio frequency receive coil is a flexible coil configured to be affixed to an anatomical portion of a patient for imaging within the region of interest.

23. The system of claim 3 , wherein the radio frequency receive coil is in one of a single-loop coil configuration, figure-8 coil configuration, or butterfly coil configuration, wherein the radio frequency receive coil is smaller than the region of interest.

24. The system of claim 19 , wherein the transmit coil and the single-sided gradient coil set are concentric about the region of interest.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium in which a program is stored for causing a computer to perform a method for performing magnetic resonance imaging, the method comprising:

providing a magnetic resonance imaging system comprising:

a radio frequency receive system comprising a radio frequency receive coil, and

a housing, wherein the housing comprises:

a permanent magnet for providing an inhomogeneous permanent gradient field,

a radio frequency transmit system, and

a single-sided gradient coil set;

placing the radio frequency receive coil proximate a target subject;

applying a sequence of chirped pulses via the radio frequency transmit system;

applying a multi-slice excitation along the inhomogeneous permanent gradient field;

applying a plurality of gradient pulses via the single-sided gradient coil set orthogonal to the inhomogeneous permanent gradient field;

acquiring a signal of the target subject via the radio frequency receive system, wherein the signal comprises at least two chirped pulses; and

forming a magnetic resonance image of the target subject.