³⁵Cl profiling using centric scan SPRITE with variable flip angle excitation

An efficient MRI technique for quantitative density profiling of samples with fast spin-lattice relaxation (T₁ < 5 ms) is introduced. The pulse scheme is based on the 1D centric scan SPRITE technique. Strong excitation of the sample at the k-space origin improves the sensitivity with respect to the original centric scan SPRITE technique. Radio frequency pulse durations are defined so as to provide uniform excitation of the sample at every k-space point. For a particular k-space point the pulse duration is required to be less than the inverse sample bandwidth. Simulations permit one to examine distortions from ideal profile geometry due to flip angle and spin-lattice relaxation effects. The proposed technique is especially suitable for the observation of low sensitivity samples, in particular, low-γ nuclei like ³⁵Cl. In some cases, this strategy permits one to reduce the number of scans, i.e. the experiment time, by a factor of 100, depending on hardware, sample length and tolerable resolution loss. The designed pulse scheme is tested on cylindrical agar gel and type 1 Portland cement paste phantoms prepared to provide ¹H and ³⁵Cl signals, respectively.