Microwave imaging of artificially induced magnetic anomalies: a feasibility study

The demand of effective, low cost and portable diagnostic tools for large scale preventive screening has addressed a huge interest in microwave imaging techniques. Moreover, the recently demonstrated capability of selectively targeting magnetic nanoparticles opens the way for new imaging strategies, that exploit nanoparticles as contrast agent. As a matter of fact, due to the nonmagnetic nature of human tissues, this artificially induced magnetic contrast can be exploited to enhance the response of small and hardly detectable anomalies. In this respect, two microwave imaging strategies, devoted to characterize magnetic targets embedded into an electric scenario, are proposed and a preliminary assessment of their reconstruction capabilities is given.