Nonuniform and multidimensional Shinnar-Le Roux RF pulse design method

The Shinnar-Le Roux (SLR) radiofrequency (RF) pulse design algorithm is widely used for designing slice-selective RF pulses due to its intuitiveness, optimality, and speed. SLR is limited, however, in that it is only capable of designing one-dimensional pulses played along constant gradients. We present a nonuniform SLR RF pulse design framework that extends most of the capabilities of classical SLR to nonuniform gradient trajectories and multiple dimensions. Specifically, like classical SLR, the new method is a hard pulse approximation-based technique that uses filter design relationships to produce the lowest power RF pulse that satisfies target magnetization ripple levels. The new method is validated and compared with methods conventionally used for nonuniform and multidimensional large-tip-angle RF pulse design. Magn Reson Med, 2012. (c) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.