Fiber-optic Faraday-effect magnetic-field sensor based on flux concentrators.

The principles and performance of a fiber-optic Faraday-effect magnetic-field sensor designed around an yttrium-iron-garnet (YIG) sensing element and two flux concentrators are described. The system design exploits the technique of polarization-rotated reflection in which a single polarization-maintaining optical fiber links the sensor head to the optical source and detection system. In the sensing head, ferrite flux concentrators are magnetically coupled to the YIG sensing element to achieve maximum sensitivity. The system exhibits a noise equivalent field of 6 pT/√Hz and a 3-dB bandwidth of~10 MHz.