From ISOL Technology

'Next generation MRI system 1.5T CHORUS developed by ISOL Technology is optimized for both clinical diagnostic imaging and for research development.
CHORUS offers the complete range of feature oriented advanced imaging techniques- for both clinical routine and research. The compact short bore magnet, the patient friendly design and the gradient technology make the innovation to new degree of perfection in magnetic resonance.'

In fast imaging sequences driven equilibrium sensitizes the sequence to variations in T2. This MRI technique turns transverse magnetization Mxy to the longitudinal axis using a pulse rather than waiting for T1 relaxation.
The first two pulses form a spin echo and, at the peak of the echo, a second 90° pulse returns the magnetization to the z-axis in preparation for a fresh sequence. In the absence of T2 relaxation, then all the magnetization can be returned to the z-axis. Otherwise, T2 signal loss during the sequence will reduce the final z-magnetization.
The advantage of this sequence type is, that both longitudinal and also transverse magnetization are back to equilibrium in a shorter amount of time. Therefore, contrast and signal can be increased while using a shorter TR. This pulse type can be applied to other sequences like FSE, GE or IR.

Sequences with driven equilibrium:
Driven Equilibrium Fast Gradient Recalled acquisition in the steady state - DE FGR,
Driven Equilibrium Fourier Transformation - DEFT,
Driven Equilibrium magnetization preparation - DE prep,
Driven Equilibrium Fast Spin Echo - DE FSE.

(EPI) Echo planar imaging is one of the early magnetic resonance imaging sequences (also known as Intascan), used in applications like diffusion, perfusion, and functional magnetic resonance imaging. Other sequences acquire one k-space line at each phase encoding step. When the echo planar imaging acquisition strategy is used, the complete image is formed from a single data sample (all k-space lines are measured in one repetition time) of a gradient echo or spin echo sequence (see single shot technique) with an acquisition time of about 20 to 100 ms. The pulse sequence timing diagram illustrates an echo planar imaging sequence from spin echo type with eight echo train pulses. (See also Pulse Sequence Timing Diagram, for a description of the components.)
In case of a gradient echo based EPI sequence the initial part is very similar to a standard gradient echo sequence. By periodically fast reversing the readout or frequency encoding gradient, a train of echoes is generated.
EPI requires higher performance from the MRI scanner like much larger gradient amplitudes. The scan time is dependent on the spatial resolution required, the strength of the applied gradient fields and the time the machine needs to ramp the gradients.
In EPI, there is water fat shift in the phase encoding direction due to phase accumulations. To minimize water fat shift (WFS) in the phase direction fat suppression and a wide bandwidth (BW) are selected. On a typical EPI sequence, there is virtually no time at all for the flat top of the gradient waveform. The problem is solved by "ramp sampling" through most of the rise and fall time to improve image resolution.
The benefits of the fast imaging time are not without cost. EPI is relatively demanding on the scanner hardware, in particular on gradient strengths, gradient switching times, and receiver bandwidth. In addition, EPI is extremely sensitive to image artifacts and distortions.

Echo spacing is the distance in time between the echoes in multiple echo sequences like, e.g. echo planar imaging, fast spin echo. A short echo space produces compact sequence timing and less image artifacts. The shorter the rise time, the faster the gradients and therefore the echo spacing. Gradients with a shorter echo spacing will have a better resolution and more slices per TR.

See also Fast Spin Echo.

(TE) The echo time represents the time in milliseconds between the application of the 90° pulse and the peak of the echo signal in spin echo and inversion recovery pulse sequences.

See also Repetition Time, Spin Echo Sequence and Inversion Recovery Sequence.