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APPLICATIONS:
- Medical imaging
- Diagnostic imaging: tissue contrast and differentiation
- Morphology and porosity characterization of materials,
e.g. geological rock
- Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy
ADVANTAGES:
- Portable, localized, less expensive, nonhazardous,
and nonconfining magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- Reduced susceptibility artifacts
- Lower magnetic gradients required
- Sample volumes can be as small as 0.1 ml
- Object/subject can be at room temperature
- Magnetic fields may be as low as 0.1 mT
- Eliminates the need for highly elaborate dewar systems
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I––––––––––––
500 microns ––––––––––––I
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A SQUID is a tiny loop of superconducting
material interrupted by narrow gaps called Josephson
junctions.
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ABSTRACT:
Alexander Pines, John Clarke, and colleagues have created
the first nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)/magnetic resonance
imaging (MRI) system that can image small samples at temperatures
as high as room temperature and in static magnetic fields
between 0.1 and 3 mT.
The system uses a hyperpolarized inert gas to enhance NMR
signals and a high critical temperature (T c)
superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) to detect
them. Sample size is limited only by the size of the magnetic
field coils and not by the detector. These conditions allow
imaging of biological samples which have been previously difficult
to image. In addition, the system eliminates the need for
the immobile, expensive, hazardous, and confining magnets
used in MRI systems today.
The Berkeley Lab researchers devised an apparatus that stabilizes
the operation of the high Tc
SQUID exposed to room temperature heat radiation and magnetic
fields that are strong relative to SQUID sensitivity.
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STATUS:
- U.S. Patent #6,159,444
- Available
for licensing or collaborative research
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REFERENCE
NUMBER: IB-1441
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PUBLICATION:
Schlenga, K., McDermott, R., Clarke, J., de Souza, R. E.,
Wong-Foy, A., Pines, A., “Low Field Magnetic Resonance
Imaging with a High T c
SQUID,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 1999, 75, 3695-3697.
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SEE
THESE OTHER BERKELEY LAB TECHNOLOGIES IN THIS FIELD:
NMR/MRI:
SQUIDS:
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