A 16-channel high-T_c SQUID-magnetometer system for magnetocardiogram mapping

A compact, light and easy-to-handle magnetocardiograph (MCG) has been developed. The MCG consists of a sensor array with superconducting-quantum-interference-device magnetometers made of a high-critical temperature superconductor, arranged in a 4 × 4 matrix, and operated in a vertical magnetically shielding cylinder (1.7 m high and 1 m in diameter). Each magnetometer is paired with each of its adjacent magnetometers, and the difference between the respective outputs provides us with a measure of magnetic gradient. This configuration for the electronic gradiometers cancels out the environmental magnetic field noise within the shielding cylinder. We use the data from the multiple gradiometers to construct a current arrow map that describes the distribution of original current vectors in the area being measured. We used the fabricated MCG to record magnetocardiograms of healthy volunteers. The smallest signals, i.e., the P-waves, were clearly detected without averaging. The current arrow maps obtained from the single-beat magnetocardiograms indicate the feasibility of clinical application of this MCG.