• Progress in Superconductivity
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• 제8권1호
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• pp.33-39
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• 2006

We have developed a second-order double relaxation oscillation SQUID(DROS) gradiometer with a baseline of 35 mm, and constructed a poorly magnetically-shielded room(MSR) with an aluminum layer and permalloy layers for magnetocardiography(MCG). The 2nd-order DROS gradiometer has a noise level of 20 $fT/{\surd}Hz$ at 1 Hz and 8 $fT/{\surd}Hz$ at 200 Hz inside the heavily-shielded MSR with a shielding factor of $10^3$ at 1 Hz and $10^4-10^5$ at 100 Hz. The poorly-shielded MSR, built of a 12-mm-thick aluminum layer and 4-6 permalloy layers of 0.35 mm thickness, is 2.4mx2.4mx2.4m in size, and has a shielding factor of 40 at 1 Hz, $10^4$ at 100 Hz. Our 64-channel second-order gradiometer MCG system consists of 64 2nd-order DROS gradiometers, flux-locked loop electronics, and analog signal processors. With the 2nd-order DROS gradiometers and flux-locked loop electronics installed inside the poorly-shielded MSR, and with the analog signal processor installed outside it, the noise level was measured to be 20 $fT/{\surd}Hz$ at 1 Hz and 8 $fT/{\surd}Hz$ at 200 Hz on the average even though the MSR door is open. This result leads to a low noise level, low enough to obtain a human MCG at the same level as that measured in the heavily-shielded MSR. However, filters or active shielding is needed fur clear MCG when there is large low-frequency noise from heavy air conditioning or large ac power consumption near the poorly-shielded MSR.

• Progress in Superconductivity
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.40-44
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• 2007

We investigated signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of magnetocardiography (MCG) signals using the first-order and the second-order gradiometers of different baselines. The MCG signals were recorded using a measurement system with 61 magnetometers which measured the normal magnetic component to the chest surface. The distance between the chest surface and the bottom of the dewar was changed from 0 cm to 15 cm, and the MCGs were measured for each distance. By subtracting the other signals (distance = 1 to 15 cm) from the reference signal (distance =0 cm), we could simulate the first-order and the second-order gradiometer signals with various baselines. In addition, to evaluate the reproducibility of the simulation, we fabricated the wire wound first-order and second-order gradiometers which measured a normal magnetic component to the chest surface. The baselines of the first-order gradiometers were, respectively, 50 mm, 70 mm and 100 mm and the baseline of the second-order gradiometer was 50 mm. Using these gradiometers, we recorded the MCG signal and compared the SNR between the simulation and the measurement.