SQUID Readout Electronics and Magnetometric Systems for Practical Applications

Hands-on guide for scientists and engineers on how to use SQUID technology

This practical book covers SQUID (superconducting quantum interference device) readout electronics and magnetometric systems. It illustrates their many practical applications in measuring extremely subtle magnetic fields and shows how the technique is developing into an enabling technology for many applications, such as biomagnetic imaging and geophysical prospecting. Clear and comprehensive, the book builds a bridge for scientists and engineers to fill in potential know-how gaps for all who work on SQUID systems and their practical applications. It helps make key words like readout electronics, flux quantization, Josephson effects, and noise contributions completely understandable to all who design and use simple and robust SQUID systems.

Beginning with an introduction to the subject, SQUID Readout Electronics and Magnetometric Systems for Practical Applications offers in-depth chapter coverage of: Josephson junctions; dc SQUID’s I-V characteristics and its bias modes; functions of the SQUID's readout electronics; direct readout scheme (DRS); SQUID magnetometry system and SQUID parameters; flux modulation scheme (FMS); and flux feedback concepts and parallel feedback circuit. Other sections examine: analyses of the "series feedback coil (circuit)" (SFC); weakly damped SQUID; two-stage and double relaxation oscillation readout schemes; and radio-frequency (rf) SQUID.

· Provides a unique view of how simplicity and robustness are crucial for practical SQUID systems in applications
· Focuses on the readout electronics of SQUID systems, particularly the advantages and disadvantages of the various systems
· Helps materials scientists, physicists, and engineers overcome various major know-how barriers in order to understand the important challenges and to design practical SQUID systems
· Largely documents the joint achievements accomplished in the cooperation between SIMIT and FZJ in the field of superconducting electronics

SQUID Readout Electronics and Magnetometric Systems for Practical Applications is an excellent book for all materials scientists, electrical engineers, and physicists who can benefit from SQUID systems and their applications. It will also be of great benefit to analytical laboratories in industry, manufacturers of laboratory equipment, and systems engineers.

Xiaoming Xie, Executive Director of the Center for Excellence in Superconducting Electronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, received his Ph.D in 1990 from Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT). He worked as a Postdoc at ESPCI, France, on high-temperature superconductivity followed by research on electronics manufacturing and reliability. He switched back to superconductivity research with a focus on superconducting electronics in 2005. He is the author of ca. 200 scientific publications with about 2000 citations and is the holder of 50 patents.

Yi Zhang received his Ph.D. in 1990 from the University of Gießen, Germany. His research at the Forschungszentrum Jülich is dedicated to the fabrication and application of SQUIDs. He has been awarded various Professor titles at the University of Peking, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tongji University and SIMIT CAS, and from Jilin University. In 2001, he worked at the University of California, Berkeley, in Prof. John Clarke's group, and was a co-author of the "SQUID Handbook", edited by John Clarke and Alex. I. Braginski (WILEY-VCH). He has contributed to more than 150 publications with about 2000 citations, and is one of the leading scientists for SQUID research worldwide. Several of his papers were cited in the book "100 Years of Superconductivity", edited by Horst Rogalla and Peter H. Kes (CRC Press).

Hui Dong received her Ph.D. in 2011 from SIMIT CAS. 2008 - 2010 she was a visiting student at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, and a visiting scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. She is currently Associate Professor at SIMIT CAS. Her research interests include SQUID system optimization and applications of ultra-low field magnetic resonance imaging (ULF MRI). She has authored and co-authored about 30 scientific publications, and she holds 8 patents.

Hans-Joachim Krause received his Ph.D. in Physics from RWTH Aachen, Germany in 1993. He initiated the Non-destructive Evaluation Group at Forschungszentrum Jülich, working on projects with industrial partners for the development of SQUID systems for the magnetic testing of aircraft parts, pre-stressed concrete bridges and other structures. In summer 2011, he was a Visiting Professor at Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France. Currently, he leads the Magnetic Sensing Group in Jülich, focusing on SQUID sensors, magnetic biosensing, low field nuclear magnetic resonance, magnetic immunoassays and magnetic nanoparticle actuation. In 2017, he was appointed Professor of Physics at the University of Applied Sciences, Aachen, Germany. He has co-authored more than 150 scientific publications with over 1500 citations.

Guofeng Zhang received his Ph.D. in microelectronics and solid state electronics from SIMIT CAS in 2012. From 2009 - 2011 he was a visiting Ph.D. student at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, before becoming Assistant and in 2015 Associate Professor at SIMIT CAS. His research interests include SQUID design and fabrication, and SQUID applications in biomagnetism, geophysics and related areas. He has authored and co-authored about 20 scientific publications, and he holds 5 patents.