Develco, Inc.

Superconducting Technology, Inc.

Victor W Hesterman

A superconducting magnetic sensor having a sensing coil is provided with one or more superconducting discs for adjusting the effective area of the coil. The effective area of the coil is adjusted by varying the position of the superconducting disc relative to the associated coil. In a superconducting gradiometer having a pair of sensing coils coupled in series opposition, three superconducting discs are arranged to provide effective area adjustment along three mutually orthogonal axes. Coarse and fine adjustment are optionally provided by employing two sets of superconducting discs, one set fixed, the other adjustable.

Superconducting magnetic sensor with improved balancing system

One or more primary superconductive magnetic field pickup coils are trimmed by means of one or more auxiliary super-conductive trim coils coupled to a magnetic flux sensor for sensing the magnetic flux coupled to the sensor by said primary and auxiliary coil circuits. The trim coils preferably each have their respective magnetic axes oriented orthogonally to each other for independent adjustment. The trim coils are wound in the gradient configuration and an adjustable superconductive magnetic shield is provided surrounding each of the respective trim coils for varying the coupling between the respective trim coil and the magnetic field by varying the position of the magnetic shield relative to a null or symmetric position relative to the trim coil. In a preferred embodiment, there are three mutually orthogonal trim coils.

Growing community of inventors

Palo Alto, CA, United States of America

Victor W Hesterman