Characterization of an Optimized Off-Diagonal GMI-Based Magnetometer

An optimized giant magneto-impedance effect magnetometer has been developed, based on an overall analysis of the measurement chain, including physical material properties, associated detection coil parameters, and equivalent magnetic noise performances. The field response model for the sensing element and the noise model yield good agreement with experimental results. The noise performance of the magnetometer, approximately 1.7 pT/√{Hz} in the white noise region, with a band-pass of about 70 kHz, is competitive with that of other technologies. Present limitations are clearly established, leaving room for further improvements.