Technique - (2) Scanning SQUID susceptometry and magnetic imaging

Type: Experimental

Description: Scanning superconducting quantum interference device probes mapping local magnetic flux, susceptibility, and current flow with micron-scale resolution.

Department(s)/lab(s): Applied Physics | Kapitulnik Lab @ Stanford
Summary:

Kapitulnik combines cryogenic scanning-SQUID and Sagnac magneto-optic Kerr microscopy of unconventional and topological superconductors with high-precision torsion-balance experiments that test Newtonian gravity at short range and search for exotic spin-dependent forces, spanning table-top tests of fundamental physics and quantum materials characterization.

Department(s)/lab(s): Applied Physics | Moler Group @ Stanford
Summary:

Moler's lab builds scanning SQUID microscopes -- magnetic-flux sensors cooled to cryogenic temperatures and scanned within microns of a sample -- to image supercurrents, vortices, and interfacial magnetism in unconventional superconductors and topological materials with sensitivity and spatial resolution that complements ensemble NV-diamond magnetometry (which reaches pT/√Hz via DEER/T1-type protocols) at a very different length and field scale.