Researchers from NIST and PTB have successfully used NIST’s miniature atomic magnetometer to detect a human heartbeat in a clinical setting for the first time. The sensor, which operates at room temperature and is about the size of a postage stamp, measured the weak magnetic signature of a heartbeat in picoteslas, confirming its potential for biomedical applications like magnetocardiograms.
The NIST sensor, a spin-off of their miniature atomic clocks, was placed 5mm above a person’s chest and successfully detected the heartbeat’s magnetic pattern, matching signals recorded by the “gold standard” SQUID magnetometer. While the NIST sensor generated more noise, it offers the advantage of operating at room temperature and being more portable than SQUIDs, which require extreme cold and complex support systems.
The study also demonstrated the sensor’s ability to provide stable measurements lasting tens of seconds, enabling a technique called magnetorelaxometry for localizing and imaging magnetic nanoparticles in biological tissue. Further tests are planned at PTB.
Keywords: Magnetic, Sensing, Metrology, Magnetometers, Magnetic Field
