Magnetostrictive MEMS magnetic gradiometer
AssigneeHRL Laboratories, LLC
InventorsRandall L. Kubena, Walter S. Wall
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Abstract
A magnetic gradiometer sensor comprising a substrate with at least a pair of resonators disposed thereon, wherein each of the at least a pair of resonators is coated with a magnetostrictive film. The resonators are preferably connected to sustaining circuits to form oscillators and the oscillators are preferably used within a phase lock loop to detect a difference in the magnetic field between the at least a pair of resonators.
Claims27
A magnetic gradiometer sensor comprising a substrate with at least a pair of resonators disposed thereon, wherein each of the at least a pair of resonators is at least partially covered or coated with a magnetostrictive film;
- wherein an incident magnetic field on the magnetostrictive film changes the operation of the resonator, which change can be used as a measurement of an amplitude of the incident magnetic field.
A method of sensing a difference in strengths of a magnetic field at two spaced apart locations, the method comprising disposing a first magnetic field sensitive sensor at one of said two spaced apart locations, disposing a second magnetic field sensitive sensor at the other one of said two spaced apart locations, wherein the first and second magnetic field sensitive sensors each comprise a resonator and wherein each said resonator has at least a layer of a magnetostrictive material disposed thereon wherein an incident magnetic field on the magnetostrictive film changes the operation of the resonator, which change can be used as a measurement of an amplitude of the incident magnetic field.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.