A SQUID-based ac susceptometer

We have developed a high-resolution ac susceptometer that uses a rf superconducting quantum interference device to directly measure the flux coupled into a superconducting detection coil from a sample’s changing magnetic moment in an applied ac field. The system operates in a frequency range from 0.01 to 1500 Hz and an applied ac field range of 0.1–400 μT with a sensitivity of about 5×10−12 A m2 for magnetic moment measurement, and at a reduced sensitivity down to 0.001 Hz. The instrument is based on an existing dc magnetometer system and uses that system’s temperature control and dc superconducting magnet to allow operation over a temperature range from 2 to 400 K and in applied dc fields of ±5.0 T. During a measurement all operations are controlled automatically by computer from a menu-driven software system, with user input required only on initiation of a measurement sequence. Both real and imaginary components of the ac susceptibility can be determined.