OSCR

Optically pumped magnetometers enhance neuroimaging performance-An EEG, OPM, and SQUID-MEG study.

Overview

Authors: Marion Brickwedde1,2, Paul Anders1, Peter Krüger1, Tilmann Sander1, Peter J Uhlhaas2
ORCID iDs: Marion Brickwedde, Peter J Uhlhaas
  1. Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, Department for Biosignals, 10587 Berlin, Germany
  2. Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 13353 Berlin, Germany
Institutions: Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (Germany); Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (Germany); Freie Universität Berlin (Germany); Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Germany)
Journal: iScience, volume 29, issue 5, article 115489
Dates: received 1 October 2025; accepted 23 March 2026; published online 26 March 2026
Type: Research article · Language: English
License: CC BY
Identifiers: DOI 10.1016/j.isci.2026.115489 · PMID 42011176 · PMCID PMC13091735 · OpenAlex W7140527626
Open access: gold, a free copy (OpenAlex)
Status: code on request (how the code is found and verified)
Categories: EEG (modality), MEG (modality)
Methods: Spectral & time-frequency, Preprocessing, Statistics, Smoothing, state filtering, decompositions, Connectivity, Physiology & signal measures
Keywords: neuroscience, sensory neuroscience, techniques in neuroscience
Topic: Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research (Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics, Physics and Astronomy), according to OpenAlex
Funding: German Research Foundation (460785001)
Citations: not cited yet (Europe PMC); 68 references in the paper

Abstract

Much of our understanding of how neural circuit activity relates to human behavior and cognition stems from non-invasive assessments of the central nervous system. Further progress on key questions, however, requires measurements with a higher signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Here, we show that in an established 40 Hz auditory steady-state paradigm, optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) significantly outperform not only electroencephalography (EEG) but also conventional magnetoencephalography (MEG) in SNR and inter-trial phase coherence (ITPC). SNRs of OPMs were increased by up to 205% compared to EEG and by up to 40% compared to conventional MEG. As few as 10–16 OPM sensors were sufficient to significantly outperform 56 EEG electrodes. To maximize the representation of evoked responses, we employed spatial filters, which greatly enhanced SNRs across measurement modalities. Our data provide evidence for the potential of OPMs to enhance non-invasive neuroimaging, paving the way for important advances in basic as well as translational neuroscience.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper says that its authors' code is available on request: it was not published with the paper, so there is nothing to verify.

The paper's code and data availability statement is in the Data section.

Tracing map

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Data

No dataset and no data link were found in the paper.

Data and code availability

All data reported in this paper will be shared by the lead contact upon request.

This paper does not report original code.

Any additional information required to reanalyze the data reported in this paper is available from the lead contact upon request.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 30 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 5 authors, 3 keywords, 1 funder, 68 references.

Cite

This paper

Brickwedde, M., Anders, P., Krüger, P., Sander, T., & Uhlhaas, P. J. (2026). Optically pumped magnetometers enhance neuroimaging performance-An EEG, OPM, and SQUID-MEG study. iScience, 29(5), 115489. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.115489

BibTeX

@article{brickwedde2026optically,
author = {Brickwedde, Marion and Anders, Paul and Krüger, Peter and Sander, Tilmann and Uhlhaas, Peter J},
title = {{Optically pumped magnetometers enhance neuroimaging performance-An EEG, OPM, and SQUID-MEG study}},
journal = {iScience},
year = {2026},
month = mar,
volume = {29},
number = {5},
pages = {115489},
publisher = {Elsevier},
issn = {2589-0042},
doi = {10.1016/j.isci.2026.115489},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.115489},
pmid = {42011176},
pmcid = {PMC13091735}
}

RIS

TY - JOUR
AU - Brickwedde, Marion
AU - Anders, Paul
AU - Krüger, Peter
AU - Sander, Tilmann
AU - Uhlhaas, Peter J
TI - Optically pumped magnetometers enhance neuroimaging performance-An EEG, OPM, and SQUID-MEG study
T2 - iScience
J2 - iScience
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/03/26
VL - 29
IS - 5
SP - 115489
SN - 2589-0042
PB - Elsevier
DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2026.115489
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2026.115489
LA - en
ER -

CSL-JSON

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