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US 2018/0321333 A1Published application
Self-calibrating solid-state magnetometer for vectorized field sensing via zero-field spin-dependent recombination
AssigneeCalifornia Institute of Technology
InventorCorey J. Cochrane
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A self-calibrating solid-state magnetometer for vectorized field sensing via zero-field spin-dependent recombination is realized with a wide band gap semiconductor junction. Three sets of Helmholtz coils provide a cancellation field at low frequency, as well as a modulated field at audio frequencies. The presence of the hyperfine interactions in the zero-field response as well as the low-field electrically detected magnetic resonance detection capability allows for magnetometer self-calibration.
Claims18
A magnetometer comprising:
- a semiconductor pn junction having a first region and a second region, the first region being an electron carrier region, and the second region being a hole carrier region;
- three sets of Helmholtz coils, the three sets of Helmholtz coils being mutually orthogonal, each set of Helmholtz coils comprising two circular coils configured to generate a magnetic field along a center axis direction of the two circular coils, thus generating three mutually orthogonal magnetic field components;
- and
- electronic circuitry configured to:
- drive a current in each set of the three sets of Helmholtz coils to generate the three mutually orthogonal magnetic field components, and
- maximize a spin-dependent recombination current in the semiconductor pn junction, thereby measuring an external magnetic field based on the current driven in each set.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.