TRANSMISSION LINE COUPLED ANTENNA AND DETUNING CIRCUIT

A radio frequency (RF) circuit is provided for use with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner to transmit an RF receive signal to an amplifier circuit, the RF circuit comprising: a transmission line; an antenna electrically connected to a first end portion of the transmission line; an impedance transformation circuit; an impedance matching and detuning circuit electrically connected between the transmission line and the impedance transformation circuit, wherein the impedance matching and detuning circuit includes: multiple reactive impedance elements; and two or more switches operable to controllably switch between configuring the multiple reactive impedance elements to cause matching of overall impedance of the RF circuit to a prescribed input impedance seen at the amplifier circuit at a prescribed RF frequency during a receive mode of the MRI scanner, and to cause an increase of impedance at the antenna, to reduce sensitivity of the antenna to RF signals at the prescribed frequency during an excitation mode of the MRI scanner.