Novel magneto-electric ground-vehicle magnetic-field anomaly sensors

The Army has a growing need to detect the anomalies in the earth’s magnetic field due to the presence or motion of ground vehicles in the battle-space. Laminations of magnetostrictive and electroactive materials have shown magnetic field sensitivity comparable to that of flux gate magnetometers, yet their theoretical sensitivity is ever better. Ferro Soutions experimental and theoretical work on a variety on such artificial magneto-electric (ME) devices indicates a clear path toward advancing ME sensors closer to their limiting sensitivity and signal-to-noise ratio. Theory of these devices indicates that with more efficient elastic coupling between the magnetostrictive and electroactive elements, the sensitivity can be comparable to that of a superconducting quantum-interference device (SQUID) magnetometer. This proposal outlines a program leading to micro-fabrication of low-power-consuming, high-sensitivity ME magnetic field sensors integrated on a chip with their processing circuitry. It is shown that outstanding performance can be expected from such devices due to the enhanced stress coupling of the layers made by microfabrication and the enhanced electro-mechanical coupling of relaxor crystals.