The long-term goal of this research program is to develop an optical magnetometer for use in fetal magnetocardiography (fMCG) and fetal magnetoencephalography (fMEG) systems. We believe that the proposed magnetometer represents the first viable alternative to SQUID magnetometers;thus, the potential impact of the research on the field of biomagnetism is enormous. We have developed a novel, small-volume single-channel atomic biomagnetometer and have used it to detect adult MCG signals. The magnetometer has sufficiently high sensitivity that it is fetal MCG capable. The next step is to develop a practical multi- channel, multidimensional, low-cost atomic magnetometer for fMCG.
The specific aims are: 1. To improve the noise performance of our single channel vector magnetometer to 20 fT/ Hz over a 1-100 Hz bandwidth. 2. To further miniaturize it to a 10 cm diagonal size with integrated optics and electronics, and to design and fabricate a four-channel atomic biomagnetometer suit- able for fMCG studies. 3. To test and evaluate the technical performance of the biomagnetometer array using phantoms. 4. To integrate the biomagnetometer within a test system that is compatible with studies of pregnant women. 5. To make preliminary human subject measurements with the multichannel system.

Public Health Relevance

Fetal magnetocardiography is an especially effective method for diagnosis of fetal arrhythmias. It can provide information that is not available through other technologies such as ultrasound. The proposed research into a new atomic magnetometer for fetal magnetocardiography has the potential to greatly reduce the cost and improve the performance of fetal magnetocardiography.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (NICHD)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01HD057965-01A1
Application #
7656070
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-SBIB-U (92))
Program Officer
Willinger, Marian
Project Start
2009-03-01
Project End
2013-02-28
Budget Start
2009-03-01
Budget End
2010-02-28
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2009
Total Cost
$270,883
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Wisconsin Madison
Department
Physics
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
161202122
City
Madison
State
WI
Country
United States
Zip Code
53715
Cuneo, Bettina F; Strasburger, Janette F (2015) We only find what we look for: fetal heart rate and the diagnosis of long-QT syndrome. Circ Arrhythm Electrophysiol 8:760-2
Korver, A; Wyllie, R; Lancor, B et al. (2013) Suppression of spin-exchange relaxation using pulsed parametric resonance. Phys Rev Lett 111:043002
Sulai, I A; Wyllie, R; Kauer, M et al. (2013) Diffusive suppression of AC-Stark shifts in atomic magnetometers. Opt Lett 38:974-6
Wyllie, R; Kauer, M; Smetana, G S et al. (2012) Magnetocardiography with a modular spin-exchange relaxation-free atomic magnetometer array. Phys Med Biol 57:2619-32
Wyllie, Robert; Kauer, Matthew; Wakai, Ronald T et al. (2012) Optical magnetometer array for fetal magnetocardiography. Opt Lett 37:2247-9