The purpose of this project was to develop sensitive room temperature optical magnetometers based on the principles of cavity optomechanical sensing. Theoretical modelling predicts that sensitivity is possible that exceeds the current state-of-the-art in SQUID magnetometers, but with microwatts of power consumption, and without the need for cryogenics. This project was to implement magnetometers at both micro- and cm-scale with the aim of getting close to the theoretical predictions. In the first (funded) year of the project, we have achieved microscale sensitivities at the level of 200 picometers per root Hertz, a factor of two away from the best microscale room temperature magnetometers, but still two orders of magnitude away from equivalent cryogenic SQUIDS. Using the nonlinear structural response we have achieved functional devices for field frequencies as low as 2 Hz. These results have been patented and submitted for publication. We have also constructed cm- scale magnetometers but have yet to fully test them. The results are in line with our milestones for the first year, with prospects for improved sensitivity in microscale devices and the full implementation of cm-scale devices planned for a second follow-on year.
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