A rotation-based Hall-probe magnetic compass

Abstract

In many physics and space experiments the direction of a magnetic field must be known to one milliradian or better. We have developed a new type of magnetic compass, based on rotation, in which a spinning Hall probe (HP) produces an alternating signal proportional to the component of the magnetic field transverse to the axis of rotation. Aligning the rotation axis so that this signal vanishes gives the direction of the field. The device requires no calibration and is insensitive to electronics drift. A spinning-HP compass was built and used in a recent experiment at Jefferson Lab, where it determined the direction of the 25~G holding field of a polarized $^3$He target to about 1~mrad; the direction of the rotation axis was transferred to the laboratory frame with a laser and a flat mirror attached to the rotor. A second implementation of the rotation approach, a spinning field concentrator (SFC) with a stationary Hall probe, was also built. With 10 seconds of averaging the SFC compass resolves a transverse field of 18~$μ$G, corresponding to a directional resolution of 70~$μ$rad in a field of 0.25 G, close to the Earth's field.