A 16-Channel Proton/Sodium Transmit/Receive Array Design for 7 Tesla Head Imaging

7T MRI has great potential to enhance the sensitivity to 23Na, allowing access to functional and anatomical information when combined with proton imaging. We introduce an RF coil design of a 16-channel Tx/Rx head array composed of eight proton dipoles and eight overlapping sodium loops for 7T. The initial results were acquired on phantoms with comparable performance for both nuclei, and a 40% B1+ gain was reported in sodium channels against the commercial coil. All elements were well-decoupled (-7.2dB to -36dB) without implementation of multiple layers or RF shield, paving the way for future simultaneous 1H/23Na MRI acquisition at 7T.