Precision, speed, and accuracy are all intricate factors in measuring magnetic fields, especially as it pertains to something like medical imaging.
A team from MIT is reporting that they have developed a brand new laser-based magnetic field detector that is 1,000 times more efficient than its predecessors.
Let that sink in for a moment… 1,000 times more efficient!
Instead of lasers being shone at the surface of a synthetic diamond, limiting the number of readings that can be acquired and sometimes resulting in inaccuracies, the MIT team has developed a diamond chip in which laser light can bounce around inside.
Similar to a ping pong ball bouncing around in a boxed in area, the new technology provides a path length of over a meter and ultimately yields far more readings than in the past.
In the end, you get a magnetic field detector 1,000 times more efficient than anything else of its kind.
The long term goal for the researchers is to create a mini version of the sensor so-to-speak, capable of eventually making accurate magnetic field measurements in battery-powered devices.