title: A compact, high performance atomic magnetometer  for biomedical applications.
abstract: We present a highly sensitive room-temperature atomic magnetometer (AM), designed for use in biomedical applications. The magnetometer sensor head is only 2 × 2 × 5 cm3 and is constructed using readily available, low-cost optical components. The magnetic field resolution of the AM is <10 fT Hz–1/2, which is comparable to cryogenically cooled superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometers. We present side-by-side comparisons between our AM and a SQUID magnetometer, and show that equally high quality magnetoencephalography and magnetocardiography recordings can be obtained using our AM.
authors.forename: Vishal K
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: Ronald T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Wakai
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D053798:Magnetocardiography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D015225:Magnetoencephalography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D060306:Magnetometry / Q000295:instrumentation*