title: Multi-channel atomic magnetometer for magnetoencephalography: a configuration study.
abstract: Atomic magnetometers are emerging as an alternative to SQUID magnetometers for detection of biological magnetic fields. They have been used to measure both the magnetocardiography (MCG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) signals. One of the virtues of the atomic magnetometers is their ability to operate as a multi-channel detector while using many common elements. Here we study two configurations of such a multi-channel atomic magnetometer optimized for MEG detection. We describe measurements of auditory evoked fields (AEF) from a human brain as well as localization of dipolar phantoms and auditory evoked fields. A clear N100m peak in AEF was observed with a signal-to-noise ratio of higher than 10 after averaging of 250 stimuli. Currently the intrinsic magnetic noise level is 4fTHz(-1/2) at 10Hz. We compare the performance of the two systems in regards to current source localization and discuss future development of atomic MEG systems.
authors.affiliation: Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science, South Korea.
authors.forename: Kiwoong
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Samo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Begus
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, Princeton University, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, Princeton University, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Seung-Kyun
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Vojko
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jazbinsek
authors.affiliation: Institute of Mathematics, Physics and Mechanics, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
authors.forename: Zvonko
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Trontelj
authors.affiliation: Physics Department, Princeton University, NJ, USA. Electronic address: romalis@princeton.edu.
authors.forename: Michael V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Romalis
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography / Q000295:instrumentation*
keywords: Atomic magnetometer; Auditory evoked field; Biomedical signal processing; Magnetoencephalography