2024/03/12 by Kobayashi, Tetsuo
#Human fMPI #MEG #Optically pumped magnetometer #fMRI #ultra-low-field MRI
paper · doi:10.18416/ijmpi.2024.2403012
Optically pumped magnetometer (OPM) is a promising magnetic sensor alternative to SQUID that enables the measurement of very small magnetic signals. In addition, OPMs have the intrinsic advantage of not requiring cryogenic cooling. We have been developing a compact and portable OPM module with a pump-probe arrangement. Since sensitivity of OPM does not depend on frequency, it is suitable to be used as a receiving sensor for magnetic particle imaging (MPI) and ultra-low-field (ULF) MRI systems. In a previous study, we demonstrated the possibility of remotely detecting magnetic fields generated from super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles using an OPM with a flux transformer [1]. Here, we introduce our newly developed miniaturized OPM module having its noise floor less than 20 fT/Hz1/2 as well as the first magnetic shieldless OPM-based ULF-MRI scanner with an OPM operating at a Larmor frequency of 300 kHz.