SQUIDs für die Charakterisierung magnetischer Nanoteilchen

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) are superparamagnetic particles with a core diameter in the nm-range. The MNPs have manifold properties which make them an interesting tool for various applications. Certain parameters, such as size or size distribution and structural properties, must be well known for these applications. In this work, the dynamic behavior ofMNPs was investigated by magnetorelaxometry (MRX) at a temperature of 77 K. MRX is based on the alignment of the moment of individual MNPs in parallel to a large enough magnetization field. After switching of the field, the magnetization decays with a characteristic time constant. The measurement of the relaxation can e. g. be used to calculate the size distribution of a given MNP sample. Superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUID) based on the high-Tc superconductor yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) were employed in this work as sensors for the magnetic field. The fabrication of the superconducting and isolating thin films was carried out by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and optimized by methods of experimental design. Several types of directly coupled SQUIDs were fabricated from the thin films by optical lithography and argon ion etching. An existing MRX setup with fluxgates was modified to allow measurements with the directly coupled SQUIDs at 77 K. After the characterization of the system, MRX measurements were performed. The relaxation of an amount of approximately 100 billion MNPs was detected at a distance of 5 mm to the SQUID. In order to reduce the minimum detectable amount of MNPs and to minimize disturbances, a novel type of SQUID was developed, fabricated and characterized. A compensation factor of up to 195 was experimentally demonstrated with this self-compensating SQUID. MNP samples were prepared directly on the SQUID by electron beam lithography. Thereby, an amount of 167 MNPs could be detected. The limit for the measurement setup was evaluated as 58 MNPs. Finite element method (FEM) simulations were used to verify the MNP amount for the MRX measurements.