Recent advances in fluxgate magnetometry

Abstract

Fluxgate magnetometers, introduced in the 1930's, continue to be used in a variety of applications, such as magnetic air-borne detection, search and surveillance operations, nondestructive testing of materials, palaeomagnetism, and exploration of magnetic fields in space. This paper discusses recent analyses of fluxgate operation, the development of highly stable sensors for absolute measurement of weak fields, and the development of compact inexpensive low-power devices for various search and surveillance operations and for aspect sensing.