• Progress in Superconductivity
• /
• 제13권3호
• /
• pp.139-145
• /
• 2012

Electric activity of cardiac muscles generates magnetic fields. Magnetocardiography (or MCG) technology, measuring these magnetic signals, can provide useful information for the diagnosis of heart diseases. It is already about 40 years ago that the first measurement of MCG signals was done by D. Cohen using SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device) sensor inside a magnetically shielded room. In the early period of MCG history, bulky point-contact RF-SQUID was used as the magnetic sensor. Thanks to the development of Nb-based Josephson junction technology in mid 1980s and new design of tightly-coupled DC-SQUID, low-noise SQUID sensors could be developed in late 1980s. In around 1990, several groups developed multi-channel MCG systems and started clinical study. However, it is quite recent years that the true usefulness of MCG was verified in clinical practice, for example, in the diagnosis of coronary artery disease. For the practical MCG system, technical elements of MCG system should be optimized in terms of performance, fabrication cost and operation cost. In this review, development history, technical issue, and future development direction of MCG technology are described.

• 한국초전도학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국초전도학회 2002년도 High Temperature Superconductivity Vol.XII
• /
• pp.6-6
• /
• 2002

• 전자공학회지
• /
• 제25권9호
• /
• pp.39-49
• /
• 1998

• 한국초전도학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국초전도학회 2006년도 High Temperature Superconductivity Vol.XVI
• /
• pp.55-55
• /
• 2006

• 한국초전도학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국초전도학회 2003년도 High Temperature Superconductivity Vol.XIII
• /
• pp.57-57
• /
• 2003

• 한국초전도학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 한국초전도학회 2003년도 High Temperature Superconductivity Vol.XIII
• /
• pp.46-46
• /
• 2003

• 한국초전도ㆍ저온공학회논문지
• /
• 제15권2호
• /
• pp.20-23
• /
• 2013

For sensitive measurements of micro-Tesla nuclear magnetic resonance (${\mu}T$-NMR) signal, a low-noise superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) system is needed. We have fabricated a liquid He dewar for an SQUID having a large diameter for the pickup coil. The initial test of the SQUID system showed much higher low-frequency magnetic noise caused by the thermal magnetic noise of the aluminum plates used for the vapor-cooled thermal shield material. The frequency dependence of the noise spectrum showed that the noise increases with the decrease of frequency. This behavior could be explained from a two-layer model; one generating the thermal noise and the other one shielding the thermal noise by eddy-current shielding. And the eddy-current shielding effect is strongly dependent on the frequency through the skin-depth. To minimize the loop size for the fluctuating thermal noise current, we changed the thermal shield material into insulated thin Cu mesh. The magnetic noise of the SQUID system became flat down to 0.1 Hz with a white noise of 0.3 $fT/{\surd}Hz$, including the other noise contributions such as SQUID electronics and magnetically shielded room, etc, which is acceptable for low-noise ${\mu}T$-NMR experiments.

• 대한의용생체공학회:의공학회지
• /
• 제27권4호
• /
• pp.154-163
• /
• 2006

A 64-channel magnetocardiogram (MCG) system using low-noise superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) planar gradiometers was developed for the measurements of cardiac magnetic fields generated by the heart electric activity. Owing to high flux-to-voltage transfers of double relaxation oscillation SQUID (DROS) sensors, the flux-locked loop electronics for SQUID operation could be made simpler than that of conventional DC SQUIDs, and the SQUID control was done automatically through a fiber-optic cable. The pickup coils are first-order planar gradiometers with a baseline of 4 em. The insert has 64 planar gradiometers as the sensing channels and were arranged to measure MCG field components tangential to the chest surface. When the 64-channel insert was in operation everyday, the average boil-off rate of the dewar was 3.6 Lid. The noise spectrum of the SQUID planar gradiometer system was about 5 fT$_{rms}$/$\checkmark$Hz at 100 Hz, operated inside a moderately shielded room. The MCG measurements were done at a sampling rate of 500 Hz or 1 kHz, and realtime display of MCG traces and heart rate were displayed. After the acquisition, magnetic field mapping and current mapping could be done. From the magnetic and current information, parameters for the diagnosis of myocardial ischemia were evaluated to be compared with other diagnostic methods.

• Progress in Superconductivity
• /
• 제2권2호
• /
• pp.76-80
• /
• 2001

We have fabricated YBa$_2$Cu$_3$$O_{7-x}$ (YBCO) ramp-edge Josephson junctions by modifying ramp edges of the base electrodes without depositing any artificial barrier layer. YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O/7-x//SrTiO$_3$ (YBCO/STO) films were deposited on SrTiO$_3$(100) by on-axis KrF laser deposition. After patterning the bottom YBCO/STO layer, the ramp edge was cleaned by ion-beam and then reacted with deionized water under various conditions prior to the deposition of counter-electrode layers. The top YBCO/STO layer was deposited and patterned by photolithography and ion milling. We measured current-voltage (I-V) characteristics, magnetic field modulation of the critical current at 77 K. Some showed resistively shunted junction (RSJ)-type I-V characteristics, while others exhibited flux-flow behaviors, depending on the dipping time of the ramp edge in deionized water. Junctions fabricated using optimized conditions showed fairly uniform distribution of junction parameters such as I$_{c}$R$_{n}$ values, which were about 0.16 mV at 77 K with 1$\sigma$~ 24%. We made a dc SQUID with the same deionized water treated junctions, and it showed the sinusoidal modulation under applied magnetic field at 77 K. 77 K.

• Progress in Superconductivity
• /
• 제8권2호
• /
• pp.164-168
• /
• 2007

We developed a SQUID magnetometer based on Double Relaxation Oscillation SQUID(DROS) for measuring magnetocardiography(MCG). Since DROS provides a 10 times larger flux-to-voltage transfer coefficient than the conventional DC-SQUID, simple flux-locked loop electronics could be used for SQUID operation. Especially, we adopted an external feedback to eliminate the magnetic coupling with adjacent channels. When the DROS magnetometer was operated inside a magnetically shielded room, average magnetic field noise was about 5 $fT/^{\surd}Hz$ at 100 Hz. Using the DROS magnetometer, we constructed a multichannel MCG system. The system consisted of 61 magnetometers are arranged in a hexagonal structure and measures a vertical magnetic-field component to the chest surface. The distance between adjacent channels is 26 mm and the magnetometers cover a circular area with a diameter of 208 mm. We recorded the MCG signals with this system and confirmed the magnetic field distribution and the myocardinal current distribution.