Novel Sensor Concepts.
Investigators: Prof. Wrachtrup, A/Prof. Cheng, Dr. Arnold
Measuring brain magnetic field and generating dedicated signal output from those measurements poses three major challenges. First, brain magnetic fields are small, on the order of a few 10 fT, and occur on a multitude of time scales. Second, those fields are typically masked by environmental magnetic field noise. Thirdly, the measured fields need to be converted into a dedicated signals output requiring a robust online analysis of signals. The project is aimed at solving the first two points by using a novel sensor device and tackle the third point by closely collaborating during the development phase of the sensor device with computer scientist. The main novelty of the sensor is that it is based on a solid state quantum sensor with a magnetic field sensitivity and bandwidth high enough to record neural magnetic fields. The most decisive advancement will be that with this device it is feasible to record neural magnetic fields outside of dedicated shielded rooms allowing, for the first time, applications as a sensory device to control actuators. Within the project, it should first be demonstrated that neural signals can be recorded and imaged with sufficient fidelity and bandwidth. It should subsequently be demonstrated that such recording is achieved under ambient conditions. To this end a magnetic field gradient imaging device with a spatial resolution of better that 1mm and a minimum of 30 measurement sensors will be developed to record magnetic fields at different parts of brain and skeletal muscles. These steps should be joined by the development of a dedicated analysis software able to identify activity patterns in a robust way and to generate e.g. an actuator output from such signals in real time. The software development will be done in parallel to the sensor construction to guide parameters like sensor placement, spatial resolution, sensitivity and bandwidth.