Non-invasive detection of animal nerve impulses with an atomic magnetometer operating near quantum limited sensitivity.
Non-invasive detection of animal nerve impulses with an atomic magnetometer operating near quantum limited sensitivity.
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DOI：
10.1038/srep29638
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发表时间：
2016-07-15
影响因子：
4.6
通讯作者：
Polzik ES
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Jensen K;Budvytyte R;Thomas RA;Wang T;Fuchs AM;Balabas MV;Vasilakis G;Mosgaard LD;Stærkind HC;Müller JH;Heimburg T;Olesen SP;Polzik ES
人类和动物器官（如心脏、大脑和神经系统）产生的磁场携带着对生物和医学目的有用的信息。这些磁场最常使用低温冷却的超导磁力计来检测。在这里，我们提出了第一次检测的动作电位从动物神经使用光学原子磁力计。通过优化设计，我们能够实现由光的量子散粒噪声和原子自旋的量子投影噪声主导的灵敏度。这种灵敏度使我们能够用微型室温传感器测量神经冲动，这对于生物医学应用来说是一个关键的优势。将传感器定位在离神经几毫米的距离处，对应于生物学研究中皮肤和神经之间的距离，我们检测由青蛙坐骨神经的动作电位产生的磁场。从磁场测量，我们确定神经的活动和神经脉冲的时间形状。这项工作开辟了新的途径，实现光学磁力计作为医疗诊断的实用设备。
Magnetic fields generated by human and animal organs, such as the heart, brain and nervous system carry information useful for biological and medical purposes. These magnetic fields are most commonly detected using cryogenically-cooled superconducting magnetometers. Here we present the first detection of action potentials from an animal nerve using an optical atomic magnetometer. Using an optimal design we are able to achieve the sensitivity dominated by the quantum shot noise of light and quantum projection noise of atomic spins. Such sensitivity allows us to measure the nerve impulse with a miniature room-temperature sensor which is a critical advantage for biomedical applications. Positioning the sensor at a distance of a few millimeters from the nerve, corresponding to the distance between the skin and nerves in biological studies, we detect the magnetic field generated by an action potential of a frog sciatic nerve. From the magnetic field measurements we determine the activity of the nerve and the temporal shape of the nerve impulse. This work opens new ways towards implementing optical magnetometers as practical devices for medical diagnostics.