Foetal magnetocardiography with a multi-channel HTS rf SQUID gradiometer

Foetal magnetocardiography (fMCG) is a promising technique for prenatal cardiac diagnosis. In this paper, we discuss the special requirements of a system for fMCG measurements. A SQUID system incorporating five HTS rf SQUID magnetometers has been developed and constructed. Four magnetometers are arranged at the bottom of the cryostat in a 4 cm × 4 cm square configuration. One reference magnetometer is located 20 cm above the plane to form four first-order axial gradiometers with the four bottom magnetometers. The magnetometer with a 18 mm diameter flux focuser, which reaches a field sensitivity of 20-30 fT Hz?1/2, proved sufficient for recording foetal magnetocardiograms in a magnetically shielded room. The cardiac activities of two foetuses (31st and 33rd weeks of gestation) were recorded in 90 Hz bandwidth. The foetal QRS peak signals ranged from 4 to 7 pT and could easily be identified in the real-time gradiometer outputs with a signal-to-noise ratio of up to five. Furthermore, the averaged fMCG data enabled the determination of de- and repolarization time intervals. Overall, the fMCG signals proved of sufficient quality to perform foetal heart diagnostics.