Medical Design and Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Educational Assets
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe

Optical magnetic field sensor can detect signals from the nervous system

July 15, 2016 By Rogene Evans

Assistant Professor Kasper Jensen in the Quantop research group’s laboratories at the Niels Bohr Institute where the experiments are carried out. (Photo: Ola Jakup Joensen)

Assistant Professor Kasper Jensen in the Quantop research group’s laboratories at the Niels Bohr Institute. (Photo: Ola Jakup Joensen)

Quantum physics: The human body is controlled by electrical impulses, including the brain, the heart and nervous system. These electrical signals create tiny magnetic fields, which doctors could use to diagnose various diseases of the brain or heart in young foetuses. Researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute have now succeeded in developing a method for extremely precise measurements of such ultra-small magnetic fields with an optical magnetic field sensor. The results are published in the scientific journal, Scientific Reports.

Small magnetic fields from the human body can usually only be picked up by very sensitive superconducting magnetic field sensors that have to be cooled by liquid helium to near absolute zero (which is -273° C). But now researchers from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen have developed a much cheaper and more practical optical magnetic field sensor that even works at room temperature or at body temperature.

Ultra sensitive magnetic field sensor

The researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute have been developing the sensitive magnetic field sensor for several years in the Quantum research group laboratories. The magnetic field sensor itself consists of a glass container, which has a channel that is approximately 1 cm long and 1 mm wide. At the bottom of the glass container is caesium metal. Caesium evaporates into gas at room temperature and the gas atoms rise up into the small channel in the sensor head. Each caesium atom rotates around itself and the axis is like a tiny bar magnet. Now the sensor is held close to a nerve, which emits an electrical nerve pulse. The electrical pulse has a magnetic field that causes a change in the tilt of the axes of the caesium atoms and by sending a laser beam through the gas, you can read the ultra-small magnetic fields of the nerve signals.

The laboratory tests, which were carried out in collaboration with researchers from the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, have shown that you can use the magnetic field sensor to detect the magnetic fields from the electrical impulses from the nervous system. The tests were done on the sciatic nerve from a frog, which in many ways resemble the nerves in the human body. For practical reasons, the nerve was removed from the frog before the tests, but it is also possible to pick up electrical impulses from live frogs or from humans.

The magnetic field sensor is made up of a glass container embedded with caesium metal. The caesium evaporates into gas at room temperature and the gas atoms rise up into the small channel in the sensor head. Each caesium atom is like a tiny bar magnet. The sensor is held close to a nerve, which emits an electrical nerve pulse. The electrical pulse has a magnetic field that causes a change in the tilt of the axes of the caesium atoms and by sending a laser beam through the gas, you can read the ultra-small magnetic fields of the nerve signals.

Measures without contact

The advantage of the optical sensor is that the magnetic fields and electrical impulses can be safely and easily picked up at a distance of a few millimeters or centimeters without the sensor coming into contact with the body.

Eugene Polzik explains that you can calculate the speed at which the nerve impulses are moving from the measured signals. There are a large number of diseases where the nerves are damaged, like multiple scleroses, where the nerve impulses move more slowly than in people who are not ill. Other issues could be various eye diseases where a diagnosis can be made without having to put electrodes on the eye, or Alzheimer’s, where you will be able to measure the electrical signals in specific nerve pathways.

Niels Bohr Institute
nbi.ku.dk

Related Articles Read More >

NIH AI Comparison of the same patch of retina labeled with indocyanine green and visualized three different ways (1)
NIH researchers use AI to boost ophthalmoscopy
Edinburgh NeurEYE dementia screening with routine eye test (1)
AI-based software uses a routine eye test to predict dementia risk
Concept illustration of the electrode technology to restore a person's optic nerve function after an eye transplant. Credit- Jungho Yi of the Dayeh’s lab at UC San Diego (1) (1)
This tech could enable vision-restoring whole eye transplants
Johns Hopkins glaucoma monitor device
At-home glaucoma monitor prototype could expand access to eye care
“mdo
EXPAND YOUR KNOWLEDGE AND STAY CONNECTED
Get the latest medical device business news, application and technology trends.

DeviceTalks Weekly

See More >

MDO Digital Edition

Digital Edition

Subscribe to Medical Design & Outsourcing. Bookmark, share and interact with the leading medical design engineering magazine today.

MEDTECH 100 INDEX

Medtech 100 logo
Market Summary > Current Price
The MedTech 100 is a financial index calculated using the BIG100 companies covered in Medical Design and Outsourcing.
DeviceTalks

DeviceTalks is a conversation among medical technology leaders. It's events, podcasts, webinars and one-on-one exchanges of ideas & insights.

DeviceTalks

New MedTech Resource

Medical Tubing

MassDevice

Mass Device

The Medical Device Business Journal. MassDevice is the leading medical device news business journal telling the stories of the devices that save lives.

Visit Website
MDO ad
Medical Design and Outsourcing
  • MassDevice
  • DeviceTalks
  • MedTech100 Index
  • Medical Tubing + Extrusion
  • Medical Design Sourcing
  • Drug Delivery Business News
  • Drug Discovery & Development
  • Pharmaceutical Processing World
  • R&D World
  • About Us/Contact
  • Advertise With Us
  • Subscribe to Print Magazine
  • Subscribe to our E-Newsletter
  • Listen to our Weekly Podcasts
  • Join our DeviceTalks Tuesdays Discussion

Copyright © 2025 WTWH Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of WTWH Media LLC. Site Map | Privacy Policy | RSS

Search Medical Design & Outsourcing

  • Home
  • Medical Device Business
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Financial
    • Regulatory
  • Applications
    • Cardiovascular
    • Devices
    • Imaging
    • Implantables
    • Medical Equipment
    • Orthopedic
    • Surgical
  • Technologies
    • Supplies and Components Index
    • Contract Manufacturing
    • Components
    • Electronics
    • Extrusions
    • Materials
    • Motion Control
    • Prototyping
    • Pumps
    • Tubing
  • MedTech Resources
    • Medtech Events in 2025
    • The 2024 Medtech Big 100
    • Medical Device Handbook
    • MedTech 100 Index
    • Subscribe to Print Magazine
    • DeviceTalks
    • Digital Editions
    • eBooks
    • Educational Assets
    • Manufacturer Search
    • Podcasts
    • Print Subscription
    • Webinars / Digital Events
    • Whitepapers
    • Voices
    • Video
  • 2025 Leadership
    • 2024 Winners
    • 2023 Winners
    • 2022 Winners
    • 2021 Winners
  • Women in Medtech
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe