Development of multichannel MEG system at IGCAR

Abstract

We describe some of the challenging aspects in the indigenous development of the whole head multichannel magnetoencephalography (MEG) system at IGCAR, Kalpakkam. These are: i) fabrication and testing of a helmet shaped sensor array holder of a polymeric material experimentally tested to be compatible with liquid helium temperatures, ii) the design and fabrication of the PCB adapter modules, keeping in mind the inter-track cross talk considerations between the electrical leads used to provide connections from SQUID at liquid helium temperature (4.2K) to the electronics at room temperature (300K) and iii) use of high resistance manganin wires for the 86 channels (86×8 leads) essential to reduce the total heat leak which, however, inevitably causes an attenuation of the SQUID output signal due to voltage drop in the leads. We have presently populated 22 of the 86 channels, which include 6 reference channels to reject the common mode noise. The whole head MEG system to cover all the lobes of the brain will be progressively assembled when other three PCB adapter modules, presently under fabrication, become available. The MEG system will be used for a variety of basic and clinical studies including localization of epileptic foci during pre-surgical mapping in collaboration with neurologists.