A Novel Configuration of Coupled Core Fluxgate Magnetometers: Oops = Good

Recent theoretical and experimental work has shown that unidirectional coupling can induce oscillations in overdamped and undriven bistable dynamic systems that are non-oscillatory when uncoupled; in turn, this has been shown to lead to new mechanisms for weak (compared to the energy barrier height) signal detection and amplification. The potential applications include fluxgate magnetometers, lectric field sensors, and arrays of Superconducting Quantum Interference Device (SQUID) rings. In the particular case of the fluxgate magnetometer, we have developed a “coupled-core fluxgate magnetometer” (CCFM); this device has been realized in the laboratory and its dynamics used to quantify many properties that are generic to this class of systems and coupling. The CCFM operation is underpinned by the emergent oscillatory behavior in a unidirectionally coupled ring of wound ferromagnetic cores