Design and construction of a desktop AC susceptometer using an Arduino and a Bluetooth for serial interface

TL;DR

This paper presents a cost-effective, versatile desktop AC susceptometer built with Arduino and Bluetooth, capable of characterizing magnetic materials at various temperatures, including cryogenic conditions.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel susceptometer design integrating Arduino and Bluetooth for improved connectivity and portability, suitable for diverse laboratory environments.

Findings

Reliable measurements at room and cryogenic temperatures

Reduced size and increased versatility of the susceptometer

Effective characterization of magnetic materials

Abstract

We designed and developed a desktop ac susceptometer for the characterization of materials. The system consists of a lock-in amplifier, an ac function generator, a couple of coils, a sample holder, a computer system with a designed software in freeware C++ code, and an Arduino card coupled to a bluetooth module. The Arduino/bluetooth serial interface allows the user to have a connection to almost any computer and thus avoids the problem of connectivity between the computer and the peripherals such as the lock-in amplifier and the function generator. The bluetooth transmitter/receiver used is a commercial device which is robust and fast. These new features reduce the size and increment the versatility of the susceptometer for it can be used with a simple laptop. To test our instrument we performed measurements on magnetic materials and show that the system is reliable at both room temperature and cryogenic temperatures (77 K). The instrument is suitable for any physics or engineering laboratory either for research or academic purposes.