Stimulated echoes: Description, applications, practical hints

Stimulated echoes are formed from three or more radio frequency pulses. Pulse sequences that use stimulated echoes are extremely versatile because of the availability of three pulses for timing variations and for encoding spatial or chemical shift information. This paper concentrates on the uses of stimulated echoes and on techniques for obtaining them reliably and reproducibly. (Through this understanding, the elimination of undesired stimulated echoes in other pulse sequences should be more straightforward.) Applications include volume-selective spectroscopy; diffusion spectroscopy; and various forms of imaging, such as zoom imaging, chemical-shift-selective imaging, flow imaging, diffusion imaging, multislice imaging, fast imaging, and combinations thereof.