Electromagnetic Induction Imaging with Atomic Magnetometers

The proposed international travel covers a period of six months, split between the National Institute of Optics (INO-CNR) of Pisa and the atomic magnetometer group at Siena University.
The proposed international travel will directly feed into the proposer's current activity in electromagnetic induction imaging with atomic magnetometers. Three activities will be carried out during the stay abroad: (a) three and half months will be devoted to carry out a proof-of-concept experiment on electromagnetic detection with cold atoms (INO-CNR);
(b) one and a half month will be devoted to learn active compensation techniques necessary to reach extreme sensitivity in unscreened environment (Siena University);
(c) the remaining one month will be split between INO-CNR and Siena University to prepare a proposal for Horizon 2020 on the applications of electromagnetic induction imaging with atomic magnetometry.

The proposed international travel will feed directly into the proposer's current and future developments of imaging systems for applications in the medical sector, in security (e.g. fast parcel scanners), for surveillance (e.g. underwater/underground imaging), and for the gas and oil industry (imaging of pipelines under insulation to verify their integrity). We identified the following types of impact.

- Impact on the Economy

The proposed international travel will contribute to demonstrate a new approach to imaging for a broad range of applications, as detailed above. This will in turn lead to the development of novel instrumentation. It has thus the potential to have impact on the economy in the short and in the long term.

Immediate Impact: The ultra-sensitive electromagnetic imaging system proposed here has the promise to be an important tool in biological research. We thus forecast a rapid development toward an instrument for laboratory use. This constitutes the primary impact on the economy in the short term. Additionally, a demonstrator will be realized to showcase the capability in the security/surveillance/industrial monitoring applications to the relevant stakeholders.

Long-term Impact: The proposed imaging system is also suitable to image an entire organ. As such, it also has the potential to become in the long-term a valuable tool for the clinical practice. We have specifically identified imaging of the human heart as a promising application. The possibility to create real-time conductivity maps of the heart may revolutionise the diagnosis and clinical treatment of atrial fibrillation. This will lead to a new instrumentation for the imaging of the heart both at the diagnosis stage and in the surgery phase, of direct benefit to the economy. The same technique has the promise to become a standard tool in security, surveillance, and gas and oil industry.

Pathways to economic impact: In the short-term we will aim to identify and protect, via patenting, any generated IP. The University involved in this application is pro-active in seeking emerging academic ideas deserving commercialization and in supporting and advising such activities. This is done via UCL Business, an UCL-owned subsidiary which handles intellectual property rights and exploitation. The proposer will liaise with UCL Business to identify results of the research which may be suitable for patenting and commercialisation. Long-term exploitation paths will also be identified with assistance from UCLB.

- Societal Impact

A. Enhancing quality of life and health: We expect the new imaging technique proposed here to accelerate biomedical research, with long-term benefit for the quality of life and health.

B. Public engagement: The proposed research has also great potential to engage the public in the fascination of how fundamental science, and in particular quantum physics, may lead to real-world applications. We will take advantage of the dedicated UCL Public Engagement Unit for advice and support, as well as on the resources linked to UCL's nomination as a Beacon for Public Engagement, a 1.2M GBP programme by which the College has successfully strengthened its outreach with schools, colleges, museums, communities and other relevant groups over the past six years. We will disseminate our results through the Quantum Workshop (see http://thequantumworkshop.com/), an initiative funded through UCL's Beacon Innovation Seed fund and operated by students and staff in the AMOPP group.

- Skills and Capability

An important outcome of the proposed international travel is the transfer of know-how to the proposer's team in the UK, specifically in the area of active compensation of stray magnetic fields. Such know-how will be essential to push forward the applications of electromagnetic imaging with atomic magnetometers, and to develop new instrumentation.