and a phase encoding gradient when the rf pulse is phase shifted with each phase encoding gradient level improved snr ratios are observed application_number US 80844907 A description the following detailed description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention for purposes of explanation specific nomenclature is set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention however it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that these specific details are not required to practice the invention descriptions of specific applications are provided only as representative examples various modifications to the preferred embodiments will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the scope of the invention the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown but is to be accorded the widest possible scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein the present invention is a magnetic resonance imaging mri method and apparatus that collects multiple slices simultaneously multiple slices are acquired in the same amount of scan time with improved signal to noise ratio per unit scan time signal to noise ratio is an indicator of image quality by advancing the phase of the radio frequency rf pulse by different amounts for each slice and using the reconstruction techniques of the present invention scan times may be reduced without noticeable degradation of image quality or image quality may be improved for scans of the same duration the present invention will be described in detail herein below in a known technique phase offset multiplanar volume imaging pomp two or more slices.