The Search Coil Magnetometer for THEMIS

A. H. Roux (1) , Olivier Le Contel (1) , Christophe Coillot (1) , Abdel Bouabdellah (1) , Bertrand de La Porte (1) , Dominique Alison (1) , Sébastien Ruocco (1) , Marie-Cécile Vassal (1)

1 CETP - Centre d'étude des environnements terrestre et planétaires

THEMIS instruments incorporate a tri-axial Search Coil Magnetometer (SCM) designed to measure the magnetic components of waves associated with substorm breakup and expansion. The three search coil antennas cover the same frequency bandwidth, from 0.1 Hz to 4 kHz, in the ULF/ELF frequency range. They extend, with appropriate Noise Equivalent Magnetic Induction (NEMI) and sufficient overlap, the measurements of the fluxgate magnetometers. The NEMI of the searchcoil antennas and associated pre-amplifiers is smaller than 0.76 pT/ p Hz at 10 Hz.The analog signals produced by the searchcoils and associated preamplifiers are digitized and processed inside the IDPU, together with data from the EFI instrument. Searchcoil telemetry includes waveform transmission, FFT processed data, and data from a filter bank. The frequency range covered in waveform depends on the available telemetry. The searchcoils and their three axis structures have been precisely calibrated in a quiet site, and the calibration of the transfer function is checked on board usually once per orbit. The tri-axial searchcoils implemented on the five THEMIS spacecraft are working nominally.

Mots clés: Magnetic sensor; Search coil; Magnetometer; Themis

Domaines: Electronique; Instrumentation et méthodes pour l'astrophysique [astro-ph.IM]; Instrumentation et méthodes pour l'astrophysique [astro-ph.IM]; Electromagnétisme

A. H. Roux, Olivier Le Contel, Christophe Coillot, Abdel Bouabdellah, Bertrand de La Porte, et al.. The Search Coil Magnetometer for THEMIS. Space Science Reviews, 2008, 141 (1-4), pp.265-275. ⟨10.1007/s11214-008-9455-8⟩. ⟨hal-00610316⟩