Abstract: A method of minimizing dead-periods in magnetic resonance imaging pulse sequences employs a specimen disposed within magnetic field, a source of RF signals, a receiver for receiving signals from the specimen responsive to RF pulses and emitting respective output signals. A computer is provided for receiving the output signals from the receiver and establishing image information which may be displayed. For the dead-period, the minimum and maximum phase encoding step, the scan plane gradient pulse for the slice, phase encoding and readout directions are determined and the moments contained within the dead-period waveform is determined. The values are transformed into gradient amplifier coordinates and the minimum dead-period based on a dead-period waveform is determined. The dead-period is employed in establishing a hardware optimized waveform which may be trapezoidal.