• Proceedings of the KIEE Conference
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• 2003.07d
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• pp.2783-2785
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• 2003

In multi-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging, data is obtained in the spatial frequency domain. Since the signal variation in the spatial frequency domain is much larger than that in the spatial domain, analog-to-digital converts with wide conversion bits are required. In this paper, the quantization noise in magnetic resonance imaging is analyzed. The signal-to-quantization noise ratio(SQNR) in the reconstructed image is derived from the level of quantization in the data acquisition. Since the quantization noise is proportional to the signal amplitude, it becomes more dominant in high field imaging. Using the derived formula the SQNR for several MRI systems are evaluated, and it is shown that the quantization noise can be a limiting factor in high field imaging, especially in three dimensional imaging in magnetic resonance imaging.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1185-1189
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• 2018

Thickness-dependent magnetic domain structure of ultrathin Co wedge films (0.3 nm-1.0 nm) sandwiched by Pt layers was investigated by scanning transmission x-ray microscopy (STXM) employing X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), utilizing elliptically polarized soft x-rays and electromagnetic fields, with a spatial resolution of 50 nm. The magnetic domain images measured at the Co $L_3$ edge showed the evolution of the magnetic domain structures from maze-like form to the bubble-like form as the perpendicular magnetic field was applied. The asymmetric domain expansion of a 500 nm-scale bubble domain was also measured when the in-plane and perpendicular external magnetic field were applied simultaneously.

• Proceedings of the Korean Magnestics Society Conference
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• 2000.09a
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• pp.121-146
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• 2000

A novel system of magneto-optical microscope magnetometer (MOMM), capable of simultaneous local problems of magnetic properties as well as real-time magnetic domain evolution imaging of ferromagnetic thin films with 400-nm spatial resolution, New findings in domain reveral dynamics of Co-based multilayers: The reversal ratio of V/R is a governing physical parameter. The activation volumes of wall-motion and nucleation processes are generally unequal. Submicron-scale local coercivity variation determines domain reversal dynamics. A thermally activated relaxation process during domain reversal is existed on the submicron-scale in realistic films. Local variation of magnetic properties should be considered for a realistic simulation. The fantastic capabilities of the MOMM can open many possibilities to broaden and deepen our understanding of domain reversal phenomena in ferromagnetic thin films.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.94-100
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• 2004

We have investigated the magnetic domain structure and the thermal stability of magnetotransport properties of IrMn biased spin-valves containing Co, CoFe and NiFe. The magnetic domain structures were imaged using a magneto-optical indicator film(MOIF) technique. To investigate the thermal stability, magnetoresistance(MR) was measured at annealing temperature(TANN) and room temperature($T_{RT}$) followed by the annealing. Domain imaging reveal that the increase of annealing temperature led to changes in the exchange coupling between the two ferromagnet(FM) layers through nonmagnetic layer rather than between FM and antiferromagnet. unlike the NiFe biased IrMn spin valve with large domains, MOIF pictures of Co and CoFe biased IrMn spin valve structures show the formation of many small microdomains. The magnetic structure, as revealed by the domain images, appeared unchanged while the MR dropped dramatically. From the combined giant magnetoresistance(GMR) and MOIF results, it was apparent that the decrease of MR ratio was not related to the spin valve magnetic structure up to about $350^{\circ}C$($T_{RT}$ ).

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.94-97
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• 2002

The dependence on nickel oxide thickness and a ferromagnetic layer thickness in unidirectional and isotropic exchange-coupled NiO/NiFe(Fe) bilayer films was investigated by magnetic force microscopy to better understand the relation between magnetic domain structure and exchange biasing at microscopic length scales. As the NiO thickness increased, the domain structure of unidirectional biased films formed smaller and more complex in-plane domains. By contrast, for the isotropically coupled films, large domains generally formed with increasing NiO thickness including a cross type domain with out-of plane magnetization orientation. The density of the cross domain is proportional to exchange biasing field, and the fact that the domain mainly originated from the strongest exchange coupled region was confirmed by imaging in an applied external field during a magnetization cycle.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics S
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• v.34S no.1
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• pp.72-79
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• 1997

Most open magnetic resonance imaging systems have used the planar gradient coils whose inductances were minimized through the magnetic energy minimization procedure in the spatial frequency domain. Though the planar gradient coils have smaller inductance than conventional gradient coils, the planar gradient coils often suffer from their poor magnetic field linearity. Scaling the spatial frequencies of the current density function designed by the magnetic energy minimization, magnetic field linearity of the planar gradient coils can be greatly improved with small sacrifice of gradient coil inductance. We have found that the figure of merit of the planar gradient coils, defined by the gradient strength divided by the linearity error and the inductance, can be improved by proposed technique.

• Current Applied Physics
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1174-1181
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• 2018

In nanomagnetism, one of the crucial scientific questions is whether magnetic behaviors are deterministic or stochastic on a nanoscale. Apart from the exciting physical issue, this question is also of paramount highest relevance for using magnetic materials in a wealth of technological applications such as magnetic storage and sensor devices. In the past, the research on the stochasticity of a magnetic process has been mainly done by macroscopic measurements, which only offer ensemble-averaged information. To give more accurate answer for the question and to fully understand related underlying physics, the direct observation of statistical behaviors in magnetic structures and magnetic phenomena utilizing advanced characterization techniques is highly required. One of the ideal tools for such study is a full-field soft X-ray microscope since it enables imaging of magnetic structures on the large field of view within a few seconds. Here we review the stochastic behaviors of various magnetic processes including magnetization reversal process in thin films, magnetic domain wall motions in nanowires, and magnetic vortex formations in nanodisks studied by full-field soft X-ray microscopy. The origin triggering the stochastic nature witnessed in each magnetic process and the way to control the intrinsic nature are also discussed.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.308-311
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• 2015

We design a crisscrossed double-layer birdcage (DLBC) coil by modifying the coil geometry of a standard single-layer BC (SLBC) coil to enhance the homogeneity of transmitting magnetic flux density ($B_1{^+}$) along the main magnetic field ($B_0$)-direction for small-animal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 300 MHz. The performance assessment of the crisscrossed DLBC coil is conducted by computational analysis with the finite-difference time domain method (FDTD) and compared with SLBC coil in terms of the $B_1$ and the $B_1{^+}$ distribution. As per the computational calculation studies, the mean value in the two-dimensional $B_1{^+}$ map obtained at the mid-axial slice with the proposed DLBC coil is slightly lower than that obtained with the SLBC coil, but the $B_1{^+}$ value of the DLBC coil in the outermost plane (40 mm away from the central plane) shows improvements of 19.3% and 24.8% over the SLBC coil $B_1{^+}$ value when simulating a spherical phantom and realistic mouse body modeling. These simulation results indicate that, the $B_1{^+}$ homogeneity along the z-direction was improved by using DLBC configuration. Our approach enables $B_1{^+}$ homogeneity improvement along the zdirection, and it can also be applied to ultra-high field (UHF) MRI systems.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.19-30
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• 2015

Purpose: A new compressed sensing technique by iterative truncation of small transformed coefficients (ITSC) is proposed for fast cardiac CINE MRI. Materials and Methods: The proposed reconstruction is composed of two processes: truncation of the small transformed coefficients in the r-f domain, and restoration of the measured data in the k-t domain. The two processes are sequentially applied iteratively until the reconstructed images converge, with the assumption that the cardiac CINE images are inherently sparse in the r-f domain. A novel sampling strategy to reduce the normalized mean square error of the reconstructed images is proposed. Results: The technique shows the least normalized mean square error among the four methods under comparison (zero filling, view sharing, k-t FOCUSS, and ITSC). Application of ITSC for multi-slice cardiac CINE imaging was tested with the number of slices of 2 to 8 in a single breath-hold, to demonstrate the clinical usefulness of the technique. Conclusion: Reconstructed images with the compression factors of 3-4 appear very close to the images without compression. Furthermore the proposed algorithm is computationally efficient and is stable without using matrix inversion during the reconstruction.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.243-250
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• 1998

Reconstruction aspects of spiral scan imaging for ultra fast magnetic resonance imagine(MRI) have been investigated with polar and rectangular coordinates-based reconstruction. For the reconstruction of the spiral scan imaging, acquired data in spiral trjectory should be converted to polar or rectangular grids, where interpolation techniques are used. Various reconstruction algorithms for spiral scan imaging are tested, and reconstructed image qualities are compared with computed phantom. An improved reconstruction algorithm with dc-offset correction in projection domain is proposed, which provides the best reconstructed image quality from the simulation. Image artifact with existing algorithms is completely removed with the proposed method.