Resonant properties of a Flanders alternating gradient field magnetometer: influence of temperature and magnetic moment

Abstract

The resonant properties of an alternating gradient field magnetometer (AGFM) of the Flanders design have been investigated as a function of temperature and sample magnetic moment. Measurements reveal that room temperature operation of the AGFM is prone to long-term stability problems, which are attributable to variations in ambient temperature, but as long as these variations in temperature are not severe, it is possible to work away from resonance and still reconstruct the m–H loop for a sample. Other variations of the resonant properties of the AGFM, observed when recording m–H loops, have been attributed to the twisting of the AGFM probe when measuring samples with permanent magnetic moments lying in the plane perpendicular to the applied field.