What is it about?
This work tests a diamond quantum magnetometer (DQM)—a highly sensitive magnetic sensor that uses special defects in a diamond crystal, called nitrogen–vacancy (NV) centers, to measure a very weak magnetic field. We tested our DQM, which has a high sensitivity of 6 picotesla for the 1-s measurement time (6 pT Hz^-1/2), to see how well it can detect a weak magnetic field similar to that produced by brain activity. To simulate this, we used a dry phantom, a testing device that mimics a brain magnetic field, allowing us to evaluate the DQM’s performance under realistic conditions.
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Why is it important?
Magnetic signals from the brain contain valuable information about brain function. Detecting them could improve our understanding of the brain and be used in medical diagnosis. However, these signals are extremely weak, so we need a highly sensitive sensor to measure them. Our DQM showed excellent performance: it could detect a very small brain-like signal by averaging the signals. It also demonstrated high spatial resolution and short standoff distance, meaning it can capture fine details in the magnetic field pattern—important for accurately mapping brain activity.
Perspectives
The results suggest that DQMs are promising tools for non-invasive brain sensing. With continued improvements in sensitivity and design, they could be used in real-world applications such as brain research, neurological diagnostics, and potentially in wearable or portable brain-monitoring devices.
Naota Sekiguchi
Institute of Science Tokyo
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Performance evaluation of a diamond quantum magnetometer for biomagnetic sensing: A phantom study, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, May 2025, American Institute of Physics,
DOI: 10.1063/5.0254828.
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