A Terfenol based magnetostrictive diode laser magnetometer

A simple, rugged Terfenol-based magnetostrictive magnetometer prototype has been developed. Experiments were performed to determine the optimum operating point for the transducer and to study the characteristic of the diode laser sensor. A laboratory prototype has been constructed and evaluated under different field strengths and frequencies. Nonlinear responses were observed and their origin examined. The origin of the nonlinearity was interpreted as a result of running the diode laser sensor at an improper operating point. The device has an ultimate sensitivity of 160×10^-6 A/m (=2 μ-Oe)