Nano-magnetometry using co-resonantly coupled cantilevers

• Applicant: Dr. Thomas Mühl
• Subject Area: Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
• Term: from 2018 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 408021792

Dynamic cantilever magnetometry is a technique to study magnetic properties of micro- and nanosized particles and thin films by means of an oscillating cantilever beam. The sample is placed at the free end of the cantilever and a magnetostatic interaction between sample and an external magnetic field leads to an alteration of the cantilever’s oscillatory state. Recently, we developed a novel kind of sensitive sensor set-up based on two coupled cantilever beams with matched resonance frequencies (co-resonant coupling) and possible applications in magnetic force microscopy and cantilever magnetometry. Here, we propose the modelling, preparation, and experimental characterization of co-resonantly coupled nanowire-microcantilever sensor systems and their application in ultra-high sensitivity cantilever magnetometry of nanosized samples such as nanocrystals of endohedral fullerenes. Furthermore, we use our sensor to mechanically induce, and at the same time analyze, periodic hysteretic magnetization reversal in single-domain magnets in static magnetic fields perpendicular to the magnet’s easy axis.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants