Low-Tc direct current superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer-based 36-channel magnetocardiography system in a magnetically shielded room

We constructed a 36-channel magnetocardiography(MCG) system based on low-Tc direct current(DC) superconducting quantum interference device(SQUID) magnetometers operated inside a magnetically shielded room(MSR). Weakly damped SQUID magnetometers with large Steward–Mc Cumber parameter βc(βc≈ 5), which could directly connect to the operational amplifier without any additional feedback circuit, were used to simplify the readout electronics. With a flux-to-voltage transfer coefficient V / Φ larger than 420 μV/Φ0, the SQUID magnetometers had a white noise level of about 5.5 f T·Hz-1/2when operated in MSR. 36 sensing magnetometers and 15 reference magnetometers were employed to realize software gradiometer configurations. The coverage area of the 36 sensing magnetometers is 210×210 mm2. MCG measurements with a high signal-to-noise ratio of 40 d B were done successfully using the developed system.