A high sensitivity, wide dynamic range magnetometer designed on a xylophone resonator

A novel magnetometer based on a classical xylophone resonator is described. The device consists of an aluminum bar supported by two wires placed at the nodal points of the fundamental resonance frequency. The wires also supply current of this frequency to the bar. In the presence of a magnetic field, the Lorentz force causes the resonator to vibrate. The amplitude of this vibration is proportional to a vector component of the magnetic field. The device is intrinsically linear, and by altering the drive current the sensitivity can range from nanoteslas to teslas.