Disclosed herein is an RF probe for use with a medical imaging apparatus,
the probe comprising an intracorporeal self-tuned resonator coil for
receiving a signal indicative of an image of an interior portion of a
body. The resonator coil is preferably coupled to a transmission medium
having a characteristic impedance such that the resonator coil is
substantially self-matching with the transmission medium's characteristic
impedance. Preferably the resonator coil comprises an open wound
conductor having a plurality of turns. The length of the resonator coil
can be used to tune the resonator coil to a desired frequency, such as
the Larmour frequency. Further, a return lead of the transmission medium
is preferably coupled to an end of the conductor, and a signal lead of
the transmission medium is preferably coupled to a point on the winding,
thereby defining a turns ratio for the resonator coil. The turns ratio of
the resonator coil can be used to match the resonator coil to the
characteristic impedance of the transmission medium. Because the
resonator coil of the present invention is self-tuning and self-matching,
it avoids the use of bulky and relatively expensive tuning and matching
circuits.