Gradient spin echo enhanced proton precession magnetometer: a novel system for field gradient measurement

Abstract

Gradient spin echo enhanced proton precession magnetometer is a novel system which can measure the first order gradient of the background field in addition to the magnetic field. The system includes a conventional proton precession magnetometer equipped with Maxwell coil pair and electronics which allow to conduct the gradient spin echo experiment. In gradient spin echo process, based on the background gradient field, the switching gradient field and the switching reversal time, the spin echo signal forms at a theoretically predictable time. The important advantage of this approach is that in contrast to conventional proton gradiometers which measure the magnetic field difference between two different points, gradient spin echo enhanced proton magnetometer measures the field gradient at the same position where the magnetic field is being measured. It is shown that by using this system the background gradient field is measured with an average root mean square error of 0.02{\mu}T/m for gradient fields in the range of -0.25{\mu}T/m to +0.25{\mu}T/m. By optimization of this system, the mentioned error could be significantly decreased and the instrument could be used for many different applications.