Monitoring the intestinal magnetic field with optically pumped atomic magnetometers

Abstract

Research has shown the potential of magnetoenterography (MENG) for detecting intestinal diseases noninvasively by superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). Nevertheless, these devices need to operate under a cytogenetic environment maintained by liquid helium. In this paper, we record the intestinal magnetic field of a rabbit with optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) at room temperature. It demonstrates that the OPM-based system has sufficient sensitivity to measure the intestinal magnetic fields of the rabbit, and can be potentially developed into a cost-effective and flexible MENG system.