Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is based on the magnetic resonance phenomenon, and is used for medical diagnostic imaging since ca. 1977 (see also MRI History).
The first developed MRI devices were constructed as long narrow tunnels. In the meantime the magnets became shorter and wider. In addition to this short bore magnet design, open MRI machines were created. MRI machines with open design have commonly either horizontal or vertical opposite installed magnets and obtain more space and air around the patient during the MRI test.
The basic hardware components of all MRI systems are the magnet, producing a stable and very intense magnetic field, the gradient coils, creating a variable field and radio frequency (RF) coils which are used to transmit energy and to encode spatial positioning. A computer controls the MRI scanning operation and processes the information.
The range of used field strengths for medical imaging is from 0.15 to 3 T. The open MRI magnets have usually field strength in the range 0.2 Tesla to 0.35 Tesla. The higher field MRI devices are commonly solenoid with short bore superconducting magnets, which provide homogeneous fields of high stability.
There are this different types of magnets:
The majority of superconductive magnets are based on niobium-titanium (NbTi) alloys, which are very reliable and require extremely uniform fields and extreme stability over time, but require a liquid helium cryogenic system to keep the conductors at approximately 4.2 Kelvin (-268.8° Celsius). To maintain this temperature the magnet is enclosed and cooled by a cryogen containing liquid helium (sometimes also nitrogen).
The gradient coils are required to produce a linear variation in field along one direction, and to have high efficiency, low inductance and low resistance, in order to minimize the current requirements and heat deposition. A Maxwell coil usually produces linear variation in field along the z-axis; in the other two axes it is best done using a saddle coil, such as the Golay coil.
The radio frequency coils used to excite the nuclei fall into two main categories; surface coils and volume coils. The essential element for spatial encoding, the gradient coil sub-system of the MRI scanner is responsible for the encoding of specialized contrast such as flow information, diffusion information, and modulation of magnetization for spatial tagging.
An analog to digital converter turns the nuclear magnetic resonance signal to a digital signal. The digital signal is then sent to an image processor for Fourier transformation and the image of the MRI scan is displayed on a monitor.

For Ultrasound Imaging (USI) see Ultrasound Machine at Medical-Ultrasound-Imaging.com.

See also the related poll results: 'In 2010 your scanner will probably work with a field strength of' and 'Most outages of your scanning system are caused by failure of'

The element helium (He) was discovered 1868 when P.J.C. Janssen and N. Lockyer detected a new line in the solar spectrum during the solar eclipse. Lockyer and E. Frankland suggested the name helium (Gr. Helios, the sun) for the new element. In 1895, helium was discovered in the uranium mineral cleveite and in 1907 it was found out that alpha particles are helium nuclei.
Properties: Helium belongs to the noble gases, is colorless, odorless, and occurs in two naturally isotopes, helium 3 and helium 4. As an inert gas, helium does not react chemically largely and don't burns. Helium 4 makes up over 99% of naturally occurring helium atoms. Helium is extracted from natural gas e.g. present in various radioactive minerals as a decay product. Deposits and sources are in the USA, Poland, the USSR, and a few in India. The rare deposits and increased consumption lead to a shortage of this gas.
K. Onnes worked for many years to liquefy helium, which persisted as a gas to the lowest temperature. Helium does not freeze at atmospheric pressure. The density of helium vapor at his boiling point of 4.2 Kelvin is very high, with the vapor expanding greatly when heated to room temperature. Nb, Tc, Pb, La, V, and Ta are superconductors at liquid helium temperature. Liquid helium is commonly used as a cryogen for superconducting magnets. A rapid evaporation of the cryogen is named Quench. See also Quenching.

Cryogenic liquids and their associated cold vapors can produce effects on the skin similar to a thermal burn and can cause frostbite. Prolonged breathing of extremely cold gases may damage the lungs and in absence of enough air or oxygen, asphyxiation and death can occur. Unprotected skin can stick to very cold metal (e.g. cooled by liquid helium) and then tear when pulled away.

A magnet is by definition an object with magnetic properties (magnetism) that attracts iron and produces a magnetic field. It can be a permanent magnet or an electromagnet.
Permanent magnets do not rely upon outside influences to generate their field. In permanent magnets are the atoms and molecules ordered in long range. The specific electron configuration and the distance of the atoms is what lead to this long range ordering. The electrons exist in a lower energy state if they all have the same orientation. Magnetic domains can be likened to microscopic neighborhoods in which there is a strong reinforcing interaction between particles, resulting in a high degree of order. The greater the degree of ordering within and between domains, the greater the resulting field will be. Long range ordering is one of the hallmarks of a ferromagnetic material.
A current carrying conductor for example a piece of wire, produces a magnetic field that encircles the wire. An electromagnet, in its simplest form, is a wire that has been coiled into one or more loops. This coil is known as a solenoid. The more loops of wire and the greater the current, the stronger the field will be.
Superconducting magnets are a special type of electromagnets, often used in MRI machines with high field strength.

(H) The region surrounding a magnet (or current carrying conductor) is equipped with certain properties like that a small magnet in such a region experiences a torque that tends to align it in a given direction. Magnetic field is a vector quantity; the direction of the field is defined as the direction that the north pole of the small magnet points when in equilibrium.

A magnetic field produces a magnetizing force on a body within it. Although the dangers of large magnetic fields are largely hypothetical, this is an area of potential concern for safety limits. Formally, the forces experienced by moving charged particles, current carrying wires, and small magnets in the vicinity of magnet are due to magnetic induction (B), which includes the effect of magnetization, while the magnetic field (H) is defined so as not to include magnetization. However, both B and H are often loosely used to denote magnetic fields.

A semiconductor device whose RF resistance varies in proportion to an applied DC bias current. PIN diodes are essential elements for rapid switching of RF coils between transmit and receive modes and for coil decoupling.