{"id":911559,"date":"2026-09-27T12:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T12:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/911559\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T12:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T12:10:10","slug":"a-diamond-smaller-than-a-grain-of-rice-could-transform-heart-monitoring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/911559\/","title":{"rendered":"A Diamond Smaller Than a Grain of Rice Could Transform Heart Monitoring"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Human<\/a>Diamond defects known as nitrogen-vacancy centers could eventually help clinicians measure magnetic signals from the heart, brain, and nerves without bulky cryogenic equipment. Credit: Shutterstock<\/p>\n

A new generation of quantum sensors could improve medical diagnostics.<\/p>\n

Diamond-based quantum sensors could make it easier to record the heart\u2019s activity without attaching electrodes to the skin. Physicists at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU)<\/a> have used a tiny diamond to measure the heart\u2019s magnetic field, building their sensor into a fiber-based instrument designed as a portable endoscope.<\/p>\n

The approach measures heart activity differently from an electrocardiogram, or ECG. An ECG uses electrode patches on the skin to detect the heart\u2019s electrical activity. Its readings can be affected by differences in how body tissues conduct electricity, and injuries such as burns can prevent clinicians from placing electrodes where they are needed.<\/p>\n

Magnetocardiography, or MCG, instead detects the magnetic fields produced by heart activity. It requires no skin contact, and tissue conductivity has little influence on the measurements. Recording these signals, however, requires extremely sensitive instruments. MCG has historically depended on costly, complex technologies such as superconducting quantum interference devices, known as SQUIDs, and optically pumped magnetometers, or OPMs.<\/p>\n

These established technologies still outperform the diamond sensors in sensitivity and in their ability to distinguish a signal from background noise. The new work, published in Science Advances, explores whether the practical advantages of diamonds could help bring magnetic measurements into more medical settings as their performance improves.<\/p>\n

Room-temperature sensing with a tiny diamond<\/p>\n

The JGU sensor\u2019s diamond is shaped like a pyramid with its tip cut off and has a volume of less than 0.5 cubic millimeters. Its small size makes it easy to transport, and unlike SQUID and OPM systems, the diamond sensor operates at room temperature. It can therefore be placed directly against the skin at different locations, potentially allowing researchers to map the body\u2019s magnetic signals in greater detail. One possible application is reconstructing the heart\u2019s electrical conduction system in three dimensions.<\/p>\n

\u201cNV magnetometers are characterized by fast initialization, excellent biocompatibility, and stable operation over a wide temperature range. This makes them particularly attractive for biomedical applications,\u201d said Dr. Arne Wickenbrock, who coordinates the DIAQNOS project in Mainz.<\/p>\n

NV stands for nitrogen-vacancy, a particular defect in a diamond\u2019s crystal structure. In an NV center, a nitrogen atom takes the place of a carbon atom, with an empty position immediately beside it. Researchers can examine the energy levels of these centers to make precise measurements of magnetic and electric fields, temperature, and mechanical stress. In this study, the diamond serves as a magnetometer, an instrument that measures magnetic fields.<\/p>\n

\"Diamond<\/a>Diamond sensor in the lab (left) and close-up of the head with dimensions. Credit: Arne Wickenbrock<\/p>\n

Muhib Omar developed the JGU sensor during his doctoral research in the group led by Prof. Dmitry Budker, a member of the PRISMA++ Cluster of Excellence and the Helmholtz Institute Mainz. Omar is also the coordinating author of the study.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese results are the product of over ten years of development work,\u201d explained Wickenbrock.<\/p>\n

The research forms part of DIAQNOS, short for Diamond-based Quantum Sensing for Neurosurgery, a flagship project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space. For the study, researchers measured the heart\u2019s magnetic field using three systems developed independently by project partners at JGU, the Universities of Stuttgart and Freiburg, and the startup Q.ANT GmbH.<\/p>\n

The JGU instrument differs from the other two in how it handles the measurement. It operates without a magnetic bias field, an externally applied magnetic field. The other systems use such fields to filter out magnetic interference from the surroundings. Together, the measurements demonstrated the potential for medical applications while identifying improvements still needed to make them practical.<\/p>\n

Amplifying the heart\u2019s magnetic signal<\/p>\n

One route to better performance is to concentrate more of the magnetic field into the tiny diamond. Structures called flux concentrators gather magnetic flux into the sensing region, strengthening the signal. The small volume of NV sensors allows amplification by more than a factor of 100, and combining the detectors with these structures could eventually produce recordings with ECG-like quality.<\/p>\n

Developing flux concentrators that work at room temperature is one of Omar\u2019s main research areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdapting magnetic structures to optimally concentrate the magnetic field lines from a source within the diamond is the path to bringing these quantum technologies into practical use,\u201d Omar said.<\/p>\n

Toward portable brain monitoring<\/p>\n

The broader goal is to develop sensors for magnetic signals from both the heart and the brain. Potential future applications include the early detection of myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and epilepsy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work closely with neurosurgeons to ensure that our technologies do not remain confined to the laboratory but find clear practical applications. Our primary goal is to develop highly sensitive sensors that function outside the laboratory and can fulfill important societal needs,\u201d Wickenbrock said.<\/p>\n

The sensors\u2019 ability to measure a wide range of field strengths, suppress noise, and accommodate different sizes and arrangements also creates possibilities for further biomedical applications. For some of these, researchers would measure how a magnetic field changes between two locations rather than measuring it at a single point.<\/p>\n

Two spatially separated sensors can form a gradiometer, which records the difference in magnetic field between them. This approach has applications in cancer surgery and supports monitoring nerve activity during operations in environments without magnetic shielding. Its sensitivity to changes in the field across space could also help separate a fetus\u2019s heart signal from the mother\u2019s without an invasive procedure.<\/p>\n

NV gradiometers could eventually enable portable, room-temperature systems for magnetoencephalography, which records magnetic signals from the brain. Such systems could support neurological diagnosis and future brain-computer interfaces, which use brain activity to communicate with external devices.<\/p>\n

Reference: \u201cHuman cardiac measurements with diamond magnetometers\u201d by Muhib Omar, Magnus Benke, Shaowen Zhang, Jixing Zhang, Yihua Wang, Michael Kuebler, Pouya Sharbati, Ara Rahimpour, Arno G\u00fcck, Maryna Kapitonova, Devyani Kadam, Carlos Ren\u00e9 Izquierdo Geiser, Jens Haller, Arno Trautmann, Katharina Jag-Lauber, Robert R\u00f6lver, Thanh-Duc Nguyen, Leonardo Gizzi, Michelle Schweizer, Mena Abdelsayed, Ingo Wickenbrock, Andrew M. Edmonds, Matthew Markham, Peter A. Koss, Oliver Schnell, Ulrich G. Hofmann, Tonio Ball, J\u00fcrgen Beck, Dmitry Budker, Joerg Wrachtrup and Arne Wickenbrock, 16 September 2026, Science Advances.
DOI: 10.1126\/sciadv.aeg5281<\/a><\/p>\n

This work was supported by the EU, project HEU-RIA-MUQUABIS-101070546; by the DFG, project FKZ: SFB 1552\/1 465145163; and by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) within the Quantumtechnologien program via the DIAQNOS project (project no. 13N16455).<\/p>\n

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