STTR Phase I: Ferrofluidic enclosures for enhanced control of thermal and magnetic fields in spin-stabilized atomic micro-devices

这个项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是由新的消费产品和新的行业决定的，这些产品和行业将在便携式和可靠的原子钟、陀螺仪和磁力计问世时蓬勃发展。拟议的紧凑型热磁外壳减少了此类设备中最笨重的部分，并为进一步小型化提供了途径。芯片规模的原子钟将极大地提高GPS分辨率和重锁速度，提高计算机时钟和宽带速度，更好地利用电磁频谱进行通信和联网设备。具有重大社会影响的惯性导航应用的例子包括城市条件、水下或山区地形、建筑物内部或地下设施、卫星接收不良或信号受干扰的地区。惯性导航系统再校准的一个典型参考源是磁力计测量值。此外，高分辨率便携式磁强计将在汽车/公路安全、材料分类和搬运、质量控制和无损探伤等工业应用中发挥重要作用。生物磁学研究，如脊椎动物(动物/鸟类/鱼类)和细菌的磁定向，也可以为人类导航带来许多见解。生物医学诊断通常使用磁性测量：这包括核磁共振扫描、脑电活动研究、血细胞计数和DNA标记。这个小型企业技术转移(STTR)第一阶段项目的目标是在芯片规模的核磁共振(核磁共振)设备中控制温度和磁场的微外壳。精确控制含有碱金属原子蒸气的曲面内的温度和磁场对核磁共振设备的性能至关重要；然而，目前的方法依赖于一种笨重的设备，远远不便于携带。所提出的设计的一个新颖之处是通过一个铁流外壳将MNR室、加热元件、热传感器和螺线管线圈连接在一起。磁流体的高磁导率减少了产生所需磁场所需的线圈数量和电流密度，并有助于在微外壳中提供高度均匀和可控的磁场；此外，磁流体作为热源运行，保持均匀和稳定的温度制度。磁流体还可以自我感测腔体中的温度变化，而不需要额外的热传感器，从而简化了设备结构并降低了成本。拟议的活动包括外壳的开发、原型制作和性能测试。第二阶段的进一步开发将包括将外壳与便携式核磁共振室耦合。最终，类似的方法将被用于磁耦合和微流控采样和探测站，用于生物磁学研究。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is determined by new consumer products and new industries which would flourish on portable and reliable atomic clocks, gyroscopes, and magnetometers when they become available. Proposed compact thermal and magnetic enclosure reduces the most bulky part of such devices and provides an avenue for further miniaturization. A chip-scale atomic clocks would dramatically increase GPS resolution and relocking speed, computer clocks and broadband speed, better use of electromagnetic spectrum for communication and networking devices. Examples of inertia navigation applications with significant society impact include urban conditions, underwater or mountain terrain, building interior or underground facilities, areas with poor satellite reception or jammed signal. A typical reference source for recalibration of inertia navigational systems is the magnetometer measurements. In addition high resolution portable magnetometers would be essential in cars/highway safety, in industrial applications for material sorting and handling, quality control, and nondestructive defectoscopy. Bio-magnetic studies such as magnetic orientation of vertebrates (animal/birds/fish) and bacteria could bring many insights for human navigation as well. Biomedical diagnosis often uses magnetic measurements: this includes NMR scanning, study of brain electro-activity, blood cell counting, and DNA markers.This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project targets a micro-enclosure controlling temperature and magnetic field in chip-scale Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) devices. Precise control of the temperature and the magnetic field inside the camber containing vapor of alkali-metal atoms is critical for performance of NMR devices; however, current approaches depend on a bulky equipment which is far from being portable. A novelty of the proposed design is linking MNR chamber, heating elements, thermal sensor and solenoid coils by a ferrofluidic enclosure. High magnetic permeability of ferrofluid reduces the number of coils and the current density, required to produce the desired magnetic field and assists in providing highly uniform and controllable magnetic field in the micro-enclosure; in addition, ferrofluid operates as a heat reservoir keeping uniform and stable temperature regime. Ferrofluid could also self-sense a temperature change in the chamber without involving additional thermal sensors, thus simplifying the device construction and reducing its cost. The proposed activity includes development, prototyping and testing performance of the enclosure. Further development in Phase II would include coupling of the enclosure with a portable NMR chamber. Eventually, a similar approach will be applied for magnetic coupling with microfluidic sampling and probing stations for bio-magnetic studies.