A Theoretical Study on Circular Wire and Flat Strip Conductor Inductance for Magnetic Resonance-Shielded Phased-Array Circular Coils

Phased-array radiofrequency (RF) coils are commonly used for signal reception in magnetic resonance for their large spatial coverage, typical of volume coils, and for their high signal-to-noise ratio, usually associated with surface coils. The simplest design of phased-array coils is an array of circular loops whose conductor can be constituted by flat strip or circular wire cross-sectional geometry, often partially enclosed in an RF shield for minimizing electromagnetic interference. This paper proposes a method for the analytical calculation of the mutual inductance between two circular loops constituting a dual-element phased-array coil by taking into account the conductor's geometry and the effect of an eventual RF shield.