High-Tcplanar SQUID gradiometer for eddy current non-destructive evaluation

This paper reports the fabrication and test of a high-T-c SQUID planar gradiometer which is patterned from YBCO thin film deposited on a SrTiO3 bicrystal substrate. The measurement of noise spectrum at 77K shows that the white noise at 200 Hz is about 1 x 10(-4)Phi(0)/root Hz. The minimal magnetic gradient is measured and the results suggest that the minimal magnetic gradient is 94 pT/m. The planar gradiometer is used in non-destructive evaluation (NDE) experiments to detect the artifacts in conducting aluminium plates by performing eddy current testing in an unshielded environment. The effect of the exciting coil dimension on the NDE results is investigated. By mapping out the induced field distribution, flaws about 10mm below the plate surface can be clearly identified.