Electromagnetic Sensors Based on Magnonic Crystals for Applications in the Fields of Biomedical and NDT

Abstract An exploratory investigation of high sensitivity sensors based on magnonic crystals for the measurement of weak magnetic fields at room temperature is presented. The samples are YIG crystals on GGG substrate (Gadolinium-Gallium-Garnet) on which a periodic structure of shallow grooves are etched or gold stripes are deposited. The excitation of surface magnetostatic spin waves (MSSW) which should appear in these structures is obtained by means of microstrip transmission line or microstrip planar antenna. The measurement of the magnonic structure by complex transmission coefficient (S 12 ) shows a significant shift in frequency of the maximum absorption peak related to magnonic band gap which depends on the magnitude of the DC magnetic bias field applied. It shows the possibility of magnonic high Q-value band gap implementation with respect to spin wave propagation band (GHz band) in magnonic crystals applied to spin waves detection of magnetic fields. The influence of the characteristics of the microstrip line or the microstrip antenna on sensor performance (sensitivity and resolution) is studied.