Although the basic principle is relatively straightforward, the actual performance depends on many factors:

– Core material: To maximize the signal, the core material should be as magnetically “soft” as possible, with a very narrow hysteresis loopThe characteristic of ferromagnetic materials that they remain magnetized when the external field is removed. See also B/H loop. More and sharp saturation point. Other characteristics of the core material, such as temperature coefficient, isotropy, and long-term stability, determine crucial other sensor characteristics.

– Core geometry: Clever core geometries dramatically improve the sensitivity by canceling the direct transmission of the drive to sense signal. One such geometry uses two parallel cores, with the drive coil wound in opposite directions. The sense coil is wound around the pair so that the fluxThe magnetic flux density, B, integrated over an area. The voltage induced in a coil is proportional to the flux... More generated by the two drive coils cancel out.

– Multi-axis: Another core geometry is a ring, with the drive coil wound toroidally and the sense coil around the entire ring – a straightforward extension of the parallel-rod design. The direction of the sense coil determines the sensitive direction of the sensor; two orthogonal sense coils on the same ring make an XY sensor, and with two rings, one can make an XYZ sensor. Note that in this design, the axes are centered on a single point.

– Synchronous detection: A single cycle of the drive voltage causes two saturation/desaturation signals from the sense coil: once in the forward and once in the reverse direction. Synchronous 2^nd harmonic detection can, therefore, be used to improve the signal-to-noise ratio.

– Feedback: The dynamic rangeThe range of a probe is defined by the minimum and maximum field strength it can measure. On an instrument,... More and linearity can be significantly enhanced by using the fluxgate signal as a null detector. It controls a current that is fed back into either the sense coil or a separate feedback coil, nulling out the external field.

– Frequency response: A higher drive frequency allows a higher sensor bandwidth, but needs to be traded off against the sensitivity.

– Demodulation electronics: The demodulator must be carefully designed to optimize noise, offset, bandwidth, and the temperature coefficient.

– CalibrationDuring calibration, the instrument reading is compared to one or more references to verify its accuracy. The references themselves need... More: To achieve good accuracyAccuracy is how close a measure conforms to reality. Even if our NMR Teslameter displays 9 digits, we claim 5... More, a proper calibrationDuring calibration, the instrument reading is compared to one or more references to verify its accuracy. The references themselves need... More technique is paramount. Given the high sensitivity of fluxgate sensors, it is especially challenging to create the right zero reference field.