Problems with MEG & MCG sensors

• Accessibility: only several companies providing SQUID-based magnetic sensors, and about 300 units available globally.
• High cost: 2-3 million euro per unit plus 90,000 euro per year for cooling with helium
• Not allowed to mobile: the sensors have to be installed in magnetic shielding room

These problems arise due to using superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUID)-based sensor for measuring MEG & MCG that needs very low temperature to operate and magnetic shielding room.

Solution: Atomic magnetometer-based MEG & MCG

Atomic magnetometer (AM) based on optically pump alkali atoms uses much less complex systems including a few laser sources and a small vapor cell. AM can achieve the same sensitivity level or even better SQUIDs.

Portable atomic magnetometer (AM) can be used as gradiometer to measure magnetic signals from heart and brain activities. These measurements can be operated under earth magnetic field without magnetic shields.

Inside sensor head

Inside sensor head

There is a Rb vapor cell inside the sensor head. Two laser beams as pump and probe beams are exposed to the Rb cell.

Goals

• Portable atomic magnetometer for measuring MCG and MEG

Goals

• Portable atomic magnetometer for measuring MCG and MEG
• Assembling sensors in a multichannel mode to obtain a mapping of the whole volume of heart and brain.

Advantages of atomic magnetometer

Many diseases relating with cardiac or brain can lead to high rate of mortality and disability

• For cardiac disease: Ischemic heart disease (IHD), Hypertension cardiovascular disease, Cardiomyopathy, and Cardiac Arrhythmias
• For brain diseases: traumatic brain injury (TBI), epilepsy, psychiatric diseases, and brain tumors

Impacts to society

Reducing the size of AM-based MCG/MEG sensor into a compact package will lower the cost of AM and enable the mobile operation for mass people in rural areas, such as compact transportable MRI system installed in minivan vehicle.

• More accurate diagnosis of heart and brain diseases
• Increasing accessibility for clinical practices
• Improving quality of living

Future Developments

Future Developments

• AM-based MEG can combine with other diagnosis techniques for precise registration, for example, MEG + fMRI.
• AM can be developed to implement in ultralow field magnetic resonance imaging (ULF-MRI)

Investing For Better Healthcare

We are looking for investors who would like to participate in our THB 50 million investment round, with minimum investment of THB 5 million for each investor. All R&D contracts will be made between individual corporate bodies and Chiang Mai University.

Please contact
Mr. Waranont Anukool, Ph.D.,Director of the Research Center for Quantum Technology at +66 89-191-2122
E-mail: waranont.a@cmu.ac.th

Miss Pittayaphorn Pumpuang, Research Center for
Quantum Technology at +66 931837474
E-mail: yaphorn.pumpuang@gmail.com