Session F23: Invited Session: Industrial Physics Forum: The Squid at 50: Impact and Future

First SQUIDs

The Superconducting QUantum Interference Device (SQUID) is the most sensitive magnetic flux sensor and the most widely applied superconductor electronic device, whose applications range from magnetocardiography to picovoltmeters, from digital logic to quantum computing, and from non-destructive testing to Gravity Probe B, a spaceborne test of Einstein's theory of gravity. In this presentation, I describe the initial experiments and device modeling at the Ford Scientific Laboratory that produced the early versions of the SQUID during the 1960's. That history originated in an anomalous observation during microwave ENDOR experiments and led to the first report of macroscopic quantum interference in superconductors in 1964 [Phys. Rev. Letters 12 (1964)]. The SQUID is based on London's electrodynamic theory of multiply-connected superconductors [Superfluids Wiley, New York (1950)], the magnetic flux quantum (h/2e=2.07E-15 Wb), and Josephson's theory of weakly-connected superconductors [Phys. Lett. 1 (1962)]. Physically, it incorporates Josephson tunnel junctions in a low inductance, superconducting ring. Two distinct types of SQUIDs were demonstrated: first the ``dc SQUID'' and then the ``rf SQUID.'' The former has two Josephson junctions and produces a dc frequency response; the latter has only one junction and responds only at rf and microwave frequencies. The first phase, conducted by Lambe, Jaklevic, Mercereau, and Silver, used type I thin film superconductors and Josephson tunnel junctions. The second phase, conducted by Silver and Zimmerman, used bulk niobium structures with ``cat whisker'' junction technology [Phys.Rev. 157 (1967)].   

SQUIDs: Then and Now

In 1964, Jaklevic, Lambe, Silver and Mercereau demonstrated quantum interference in a superconducting ring containing two Josephson tunnel junctions. This observation marked the birth of the SQUID---Superconducting QUantum Interference Device. The following year saw the appearance of the SLUG (Superconducting Low-inductance Undulatory Galvanometer)---a blob of solder frozen around a length of niobium wire---that was used as a voltmeter with femtovolt resolution. Although extremely primitive by today's standards, the SLUG was used successfully in a number of ultrasensitive experiments. Today, the square washer dc SQUID, fabricated on a wafer-scale from thin films with an integrated input coil, finds a wide range of applications. One example is the use of a SQUID amplifier to read out ADMX---Axion Dark Matter eXperiment---at the University of Washington, Seattle. This experiment, which involves a cooled microwave cavity surrounded by a superconducting magnet, searches for the axion, a candidate for cold dark matter. In the presence of a magnetic field the axion is predicted to decay into a photon, which is detected by the SQUID. In another example, the combination of a SQUID with prepolarized proton spins enables one to perform magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in magnetic fields of the order of 0.1 mT, four orders of magnitude lower than in conventional MRI systems. In vivo images of the human brain acquired at these ultralow fields are able distinguish brain tissue, blood, cerebrospinal fluid and scalp fat using a combination of inversion recovery and multiple echo sequences. Potential clinical applications are briefly discussed.   

SQUID-amplified photon detection: from cosmology to material science

Superconducting photon detectors amplified by SQUIDs are playing an increasingly important role in science ranging from cosmology to materials characterization. The most widely used superconducting photon detector uses a superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES), which is a superconducting film biased in the narrow transition region between the normal and superconducting state. The film is voltage biased, and the current flowing through it is measured with a SQUID. An incident photon increases the resistance of the TES, which reduces the current through the SQUID. Large arrays of SQUID-coupled TES detectors are read out by cryogenic multiplexing of the SQUIDs with a time-division, frequency-division, or code-division multiplexing scheme. SQUID-coupled TES detectors are now widely deployed in ground- and balloon-borne observatories to measure the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. By measuring the power and the polarization of the CMB, new constraints have been placed on cosmological parameters, as well as the absolute masses and number of neutrino species. Experiments are now being conducted to search for the signature of gravitational waves in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background, which would provide strong evidence of inflation at GUT energy scales. Remarkably, very similar sensor arrays to those developed for CMB measurements can also be used for spectroscopic measurements at synchrotron and free-electron laser x-ray light sources. SQUID-coupled TES sensors provide spectroscopic resolution previously only achieved with dispersive detectors based on gratings and crystal diffraction, but with the high efficiency of semiconductor x-ray detectors. I will describe experiments using SQUID-coupled TES arrays for x-ray emission and x-ray absorption spectroscopy of materials, and plans to develop much larger arrays for next-generation light sources.   

SQUID use for Geophysics: finding billions of dollars

Soon after their discovery, Jim Zimmerman saw the potential of using Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices, SQUIDs, for the study of Geophysics and undertook experiments to understand the magnetic phenomena of the Earth. However his early experiments were not successful. Nevertheless up to the early 1980's, some research effort in the use of SQUIDs for geophysics continued and many ideas of how you could use SQUIDs evolved. Their use was not adopted by the mining industry at that time for a range of reasons. The discovery of high temperature superconductors started a reinvigoration in the interest to use SQUIDs for mineral exploration. Several groups around the world worked with mining companies to develop both liquid helium and nitrogen cooled systems. The realisation of the achievable sensitivity that contributed to successful mineral discoveries and delineation led to real financial returns for miners. By the mid 2000's, SQUID systems for geophysics were finally being offered for sale by several start-up companies. This talk will tell the story of SQUID use in geophysics. It will start with the early work of the SQUID pioneers including that of Jim Zimmerman and John Clarke and will also cover the development since the early 1990's up to today of a number of magnetometers and gradiometers that have been successfully commercialised and used to create significant impact in the global resources industry. The talk will also cover some of the critical technical challenges that had to be overcome to succeed. It will focus mostly on magnetically unshielded systems used in the field although some laboratory-based systems will be discussed.   

Magnetoencephalography: From first steps to clinical applications

Magnetoencephalography (MEG), the study of femtotesla-range magnetic fields produced by neuronal currents in the brain, originated in the 1960's. After Baule and McFee's (Am Heart J 66:95-6,1963) measurement of the cardiac magnetic field using induction-coil sensors, Cohen (Science 16:784-6, 1968) used a similar multi-turn coil to detect the brain's alpha rhythm. The introduction of the superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) by Zimmerman et al. (J Appl Phys 41: 1572-80) improved the sensitivity of magnetic sensing by several orders of magnitude, making MEG practical. The SQUID enabled the unaveraged recording of spontaneous brain rhythms (D. Cohen, Science 175:664-6, 1972) as well as evoked magnetic fields (Brenner et al., Science 190:480-2, 1975; Teyler et al., Life Sci 17:683-91, 1975). Subsequently, a large number of evoked-field variants were demonstrated. The main benefit of MEG is its ability to locate electrical activity in the brain at high temporal resolution. For practical work, we need large arrays of highly sensitive SQUIDs; such arrays were first built in the 1990's (Knuutila et al., IEEE Trans Magn 29:3315-20, 1993). While the intrinsic spatial accuracy of locating sources with well-calibrated large sensor arrays is better than one millimeter, uncertainties in determining the location and geometry of the cortex with respect to the array may lead to source-location errors of 5--10 mm or more. These errors could be reduced to 1 mm if one could obtain the structural image of the brain with the same sensors that are used for MEG and if the conductivity geometry of the head would be accurately known. This may indeed be possible if MRI is recorded with SQUIDs (McDermott et al., PNAS 21:7857-61, 2004) concurrently with MEG (Zotev et al., J Magn Reson 194:115-20, 2008), especially if large arrays are developed (Vesanen et al., Magn Reson Med 69:1795-1804, 2013); the conductivity distribution of the head might be possible to determine with current-density imaging (Nieminen et al. Magn Reson Imaging, 2013). MEG has established itself as a standard tool in human neuroscience (Hamalainen et al., Rev Mod Phys 65:413-97, 1993). It is used increasingly in clinical applications such as in locating motor or language areas prior to brain surgery or in determining characteristics of epileptic activity of patients.