Well-established magnetic sensors such as superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) or optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) have several advantages if magnetometers are used either in addition or sometimes instead of electric measurements. Application examples include spatially and temporally high-resolution medical analysis such as combined electro- and magnetoencephalography (EEG/MEG), electro- and magnetocardiography (ECG/MCG), or structural material analysis. The drawbacks of current magnetic sensor technologies are mainly their high cost and their limited robustness against environmental influences. External magnetic fields, such as the magnetic field of the earth or the fields created by power supplies, saturate sensor principles and expensive magnetic shielding and sometimes expensive cooling are required. The magnetoelectric (ME) sensor principle is relatively new and has the potential to overcome these limitations at a very low cost. Recent advances, in terms of magnetic layer optimization, low-noise readout, and dedicated signal processing for new read-out principles, might enhance the sensitivity of magnetoelectric sensor principles and bring them very close to that of OPMs or SQUIDs without robustness problems.
This Special Issue will report the latest research on magnetoelectric sensor systems and corresponding applications. The bandwidth of contributions can range from advances in material science and improved understanding of the magnetic processes that are involved in magnetoelectric layers, low-noise amplification circuits, and specially tailored readout schemes for ME sensors, but also application examples from biomedical or other fields.
Keywords
magnetoelectric sensors
magnetic sensor concepts
sensor system development
biomedical applications
