Room Temperature Sample Scanning SQUID Microscope for Imaging the Magnetic Fields of Geological Specimens

Abstract

A microscope to image weak magnetic fields using a low-temperature superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) had developed with a liquid helium consumption rate of ~0.5L/hour. The gradient pickup coil is made by a low-temperature superconducting niobium wire with a diameter of 66 μm, which is coupled to the input circuit of the SQUID and is then enwound on the sapphire bobbin. Both of the pickup coil and the SQUID sensor are installed in a red copper cold finger, which is thermally anchored to the liquid helium evaporation platform in the vacuum space of the cryostat. To reduce the distance between the pickup coil and sample, a 100 μm thick sapphire window is nestled up to the bottom of the cryostat. A three-dimensional scanning stage platform with a 50 cm Teflon sample rack under the sapphire window had the precision of 10 μm. To test the fidelity of the new facility, the distribution of the magnetic field of basalt slice specimens was determined. Results show that the spatial resolution of the newly-designed facility is 500 μm with a gradient magnetic field sensitivity of 380fT. This opens new opportunities in examining the distribution of magnetic assemblages in samples, which bear great geological and geophysical information.