School of Mathematics and Physics, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, OH 44135, USA.
Sensors (Basel). 2021 Aug 18;21(16):5568. doi: 10.3390/s21165568.
Aerospace technologies are crucial for modern civilization; space-based infrastructure underpins weather forecasting, communications, terrestrial navigation and logistics, planetary observations, solar monitoring, and other indispensable capabilities. Extraplanetary exploration-including orbital surveys and (more recently) roving, flying, or submersible unmanned vehicles-is also a key scientific and technological frontier, believed by many to be paramount to the long-term survival and prosperity of humanity. All of these aerospace applications require reliable control of the craft and the ability to record high-precision measurements of physical quantities. Magnetometers deliver on both of these aspects and have been vital to the success of numerous missions. In this review paper, we provide an introduction to the relevant instruments and their applications. We consider past and present magnetometers, their proven aerospace applications, and emerging uses. We then look to the future, reviewing recent progress in magnetometer technology. We particularly focus on magnetometers that use optical readout, including atomic magnetometers, magnetometers based on quantum defects in diamond, and optomechanical magnetometers. These optical magnetometers offer a combination of field sensitivity, size, weight, and power consumption that allows them to reach performance regimes that are inaccessible with existing techniques. This promises to enable new applications in areas ranging from unmanned vehicles to navigation and exploration.
航空航天技术对现代文明至关重要；基于空间的基础设施是天气预报、通信、地面导航和物流、行星观测、太阳监测以及其他不可或缺能力的基础。 星际探索——包括轨道勘测和（最近）漫游、飞行或潜水无人飞行器——也是一个关键的科学和技术前沿，许多人认为这对于人类的长期生存和繁荣至关重要。 所有这些航空航天应用都需要可靠地控制飞行器，并能够记录物理量的高精度测量。 磁力计在这两个方面都很出色，并且对许多任务的成功至关重要。 在这篇综述论文中，我们介绍了相关仪器及其应用。 我们考虑了过去和现在的磁力计、它们在航空航天中的经过验证的应用以及新兴用途。 然后我们展望未来，回顾磁力计技术的最新进展。 我们特别关注使用光学读出的磁力计，包括原子磁力计、基于钻石量子缺陷的磁力计和光机械磁力计。 这些光学磁力计具有磁场灵敏度、尺寸、重量和功耗的组合，使它们能够达到现有技术无法达到的性能水平。 这有望在从无人驾驶车辆到导航和探索等各个领域实现新的应用。
