Superconducting DC SQUID magnetometer working in liquid nitrogen
AssigneeThomson-CSF
InventorsRonan Stephan, Martine Doisy, Yves Montfort, Didier Robbes, Marc L. C. Sing, Daniel Bloyet, Jackie Provost, Bernard Raveau
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Abstract
A superconducting magnetometer, using a superconducting compound at the temperature of liquid nitrogen, is disclosed. It consists in the use, as a sensitive element, of a piece of superconducting material with a central constriction enabling the demarcation of a channel in which the number of useful, intrinsic loops is sufficiently limited for the sensitive element to behave like a DC SQUID with a single loop.
Claims3
A superconducting magnetometer of the DC SQUID type, comprising a piece of material which is superconductive at a temperature at least equal to that of liquid nitrogen and having a constriction by which it is possible to limit the number of useful intrinsic loops in the material and to obtain a behaviour equivalent to that of a single loop, first polarizing means to make a DC current flow in this piece, second polarizing means to subject this piece to a magnetic field of polarization and means to measure the voltage appearing in the piece wherein the piece of superconducting material is shaped substantially like a flat bar with a central constriction formed by two hollow V-shaped notches, facing each other, on the large sides of the bar to determine a first central channel, wherein the flanks of the channel are treated so that the superconductive effect is modified on the surface in order to demarcate a second central channel which is narrower than the first channel.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.