A synthetic optically pumped gradiometer for magnetocardiography measurements*

Magnetocardiography (MCG) measurement is important for investigating the cardiac biological activities. Traditionally, the extremely weak MCG signal was detected by using superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). As a room-temperature magnetic-field sensor, optically pumped magnetometer (OPM) has shown to have comparable sensitivity to that of SQUIDs, which is very suitable for biomagnetic measurements. In this paper, a synthetic gradiometer was constructed by using two OPMs under spin-exchange relaxation-free (SERF) conditions within a moderate magnetically shielded room (MSR). The magnetic noise of the OPM was measured to less than 70 fT/Hz 1/2 . Under a baseline of 100 mm, noise cancellation of about 30 dB was achieved. MCG was successfully measured with a signal to noise ratio (SNR) of about 37 dB. The synthetic gradiometer technique was very effective to suppress the residual environmental fields, demonstrating the OPM gradiometer technique for highly cost-effective biomagnetic measurements.