• Number 373  |
• October 8, 2012

Andrei and his Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices

Andrei Matlashov of DOE's Los Alamos National Laboratory's Applied Modern Physics group recently was honored with the James Zimmerman Prize for significant contributions to novel superconducting quantum interference (SQUID) devices, new generations of sensor developments and applications in the field of Biomagnetism. The International Federation of Medical and Biological Engineering (IFMBE) cited Matlashov for “important contributions to the development of innovative application of SQUID sensing technology.”

Matlashov’s SQUID career began in 1982, when he tested his first SQUID sensors at the Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics (Moscow). As the first and only member of a newly created Biomagnetism team, he used SQUID co-inventor James Zimmerman’s  papers to understand SQUIDs. At first, it seemed impossible to imagine that SQUIDs could ever be useful for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, Matlashov and collaborators recorded the first ever ultra-low field MRI of the brain at LANL using SQUIDs in 2008. The researchers overcame many technical obstacles to demonstrate the first combined measurement of magnetoencephalography and MRI. Matlashov’s scientific contributions have changed the understanding about SQUID instrumentation and have increased the role of SQUID sensors in modern and future high-resolution instrumentation technologies.

Matlashov has a doctorate in physics from the Russian Academy of Sciences. He joined the P-21 SQUID Team in 1997. Since then, he has received about a dozen different awards, including the R&D 100 Award in 2009 for the MagViz liquid explosives detector, and he has published more than 70 papers.

Professor Alex Braginski of the KFA Research Center in Julich, Germany, a world expert in SQUIDs and co-editor and co-author of the two-volume classic The SQUID Handbook, nominated Matlashov, who received a plaque and a monetary award at the 18th International Conference on Biomagnetism held Aug. 26-30 in Paris, France. Matlashov delivered a plenary presentation at the conference about his research that led to the prize.

IFMBE sponsors the James Zimmerman Prize, which is presented biannually during the International Conference on Biomagnetism conference. The field is quickly expanding, with the emergence of new sensors and instruments, new methods to apprehend all aspects of biological dynamics and interactions and the growing interplay between SQUID-based measurements and other techniques.

Submitted by DOE's Los Alamos National Laboratory