A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, method and/or computer readable medium is configured to obtain bright signal while having acceptable specific absorption rate (SAR) and acceptable scan time in Fast Advanced Spin Echo (FASE) or Single-shot Fast Spin Echo (SS-FSE) imaging used, for example, in non-contrast magnetic resonance angiography (NC-MRA) techniques like fresh blood imaging (FBI). Within RF pulse sequences used to acquire echo data, the TR intervals are varied in the slice encode direction. In some instances, the refocusing pulse flip angles too may be varied for RF pulse sequences such that central k-space have larger refocusing pulse flip angles than slices further towards the ends.